We're All Out to Prove Something
by Nightmarish Black
Summary: Axel's on crack, Demyx is in love with his best friend, and Roxas's best friend is a homophobe. How could that possibly work out? [AkuRoku][OneSided AxelxDemyx][AU]
1. Out of Time

-Re-uploaded. I read through it and parts were screwed up. -face palm- Enjoy.-

* * *

He had been following the blonde for some time now, just waiting for him to notice that fact. But it was like the boy didn't want to admit he was there, or simply hadn't noticed. Out of respect for the other, Axel hoped it was the first one. Ignoring the funny looks that the other students gave him as he stalked through the hall, he moved the strap of his messenger bag further up onto his shoulder, hoping that wherever it was Roxas was going wasn't too much further. He wasn't built for endurance. Tall and skinny, that's what he was, nothing more to add to his figure; he seemed to religiously avoid working out and even gym, which was mandatory at the high school.

Black boots thudded against the carpet as he made his way after the boy almost obstinately. This sudden determination was odd for the older teen, who was almost famous (within boundaries) for trying to get away with doing as little as possible. Typical lazy Axel. As it neared time for the bell to ring, he sped up his pace, finding it slightly harder to ignore the glares of the teachers than it was to ignore his peers.

Roxas finally entered a classroom, only moments before the bell rang. Taking his time now, Axel sauntered into the room, which drew more stares from the class, seeing as he was two grades ahead of these students. But none of them said anything, whether it be out of amusement at what might happen or surprise, Axel truthfully didn't know and couldn't have cared less. Noticing the teacher had not yet arrived, he made his way to the back of the class and slipped into the desk beside Roxas, pushing the science textbook in front of him towards the side, where it lay half on and half off of the desk.

"And how long were you planning on ignoring me?" Axel asked, pulling his black hood up, so that it covered his extremely red, spiky hair. Tipping the chair back, he tossed his head back, his messenger bag still strapped over his shoulder and knocking against his hips. Feet were kicked up onto the desk as he lounged there, apparently quite comfortable to wait until the younger answered, however long it might have been.

"You're skipping class," the blue-eyed blonde pointed out, voice almost bored as he began to unpack his things, setting them neatly on the desk before him. But the organization was not to last. The teen beside him, as soon as Roxas set one thing down, would pick it up and almost neatly set it down somewhere else on the desk or the floor. Breathing in deeply, Roxas stopped trying to unpack and simply put his fingers to his temples, massaging them gently as he continued to speak. "What class are you skipping?"

"Oh, just gym," the junior replied cheerily. He, unlike most of the boys in his grade, had chosen not to take a sport, but gym instead, which involved the participants running around playing pointless games, something that didn't interest him in the slightest. So, the result was, he was actually quite weak, though slender and quick in his movements, and highly underweight for his height and age (although that wasn't the only reason for this).

"And are you planning to spend all period bugging me, then, Axel?" leaning over in his chair, Roxas, who was noticeably shorter than the other, though with a much healthier body, began to pick up the various items Axel had set on the floor.

Grinning, Axel shrugged noncommittally. "Oh, you never know. And don't say my name like that; it makes me go all tingly inside." He was well-known for being flamboyant and overly showy, something that, combined with his dislike of exercise, led many of the males in the school to believe that Axel was gay. He did nothing to neither prove nor disprove this fact.

"Shut up, some of us actually care about graduating," Roxas growled, straightening as he finished picking up his things. When his friend made to push one of the books off the desk, he picked thebook up, fixing the oddly bright green eyes with a threatening stare from his own equally vivid blue ones.

"You're going to graduate?" Axel asked, sitting up straighter, taking his feet off the desktop and putting them back on the ground. "So you're going to college? What are you majoring in?" When it came to education, Axel figured he didn't have a very good chance of graduating high school, as he had only made 11th grade by sheer luck, and had no money to go to college, nor the potential. So, as a result of this, he was supportive of his friend's learning.

"Yes, I'm planning on doing so, yes I'm going to college, but I don't know what I might major in yet. Does that answer all your questions?" Roxas shook his head, getting the feeling he was in for yet another 'the importance of education' speech by Axel. Luckily, he was spared by the teacher entering.

Axel grinned at the late arrival, sitting back and pulling his hood lower over his face. The older teen slid on a pair of headphones, not unlike DJ headphones, and switched them on, eyes closing as the music began to berate his eardrums. He hummed softly in tune with the music, which Roxas, right beside him, could faintly hear; Axel liked his music loud. Roxas recognized the tune, but was unable to place it with a name; he would have to ask him the title after class.

"Sorry I'm late, class," the instructor began, setting his things down. "A few of the hallways were closed down due to a problem with the water main; several of the bathrooms were flooded." He continued to speak about it for a few more moments, but Roxas had turned to his left to see the black-clad teen grin widely for a few seconds before it vanished into more humming.

"Axel!" Roxas hissed, yanking the headphone speaker closest to him off of Axel's ear, "you can't do things like that! Vandalism's illegal!" Letting go of it, he let his friend readjust it, sighing frustratedly at Axel's antics. "All this just to talk to me? It'd better be good, or god so help you, Axel, I will kill you myself."

Axel was silent for a few moments, turning his music off and glancing at Roxas, for once extremely serious. "You would kill me, Roxas? Would you do it yourself? Could you guarantee that?" He said nothing more, but stared at Roxas with his impeccable stare.

It's a figure of speech, god," he growled, shaking his head before turning to the other. "Wait. Are you high again, Axel?" He had only seen him like this a few times in the few months that he had known the rebellious junior; when Axel got high, he was unusually silly and wigged out, but when he came down, he was as depressed as you could possibly get, always somehow managing to talk about death and how he probably wouldn't have any meaning to the rest of his life, so end it now, please?

Shrugging, the teen in question turned his music back on, louder, as to ignore the others around him, including the teacher, who was doing his best to teach a class much more interested in the older student lounging around in the back; they wanted to know how long until he was found out. If he was found out, the questions and escort to the principal's office would take time out of their class, something they always looked forwards to.

"Answer me!" Roxas commanded, pulling Axel's hood back angrily. Though drugs seemed to be something Axel did quite often, it never sat well with him that his friend was almost constantly high or downing, making him less than fun to be around.

"I'm not, I'm not," he shook his head, and having answered, tried to pull his hood back up. But he found that Roxas wasn't about to take his word for it. While the pair were a sort of friends, it still didn't mean Roxas trusted the other with what he said; Axel could think he was saying the truth and end up speaking total gibberish sometimes.

"Show me your arms. Your arms, Axel!" Roxas, discovering Axel was making sure not to oblige him, grabbed his arms and turned them so that the undersides were facing up. Pushing the black sweatshirt sleeves up, he rolled his eyes as he found a long-sleeved black shirt underneath. "Didn't anyone tell you it was hot outside?" ("It's November!" Axel protested). He grumbled as he pushed them up. Looking at his wrists and the inside of his elbows, where the vein was, he glared up at Axel's innocent expression as he threw his arms down. "No needles, then," he agreed, before grabbing his friend's face.

Surprised, Axel took his headphones off and glanced down at him, wagging a finger in front of his face. "No kissing unless you ask, Roxas. You can't just demand these things from me. What do you think I am?"

"A crack addict," Roxas growled, only half playing along with him, flicking his nose with a finger; it hurt worse than it sounded. "You've snorted it, haven't you? You're nose's red, you genius."

Rolling his eyes, Axel rubbed his nose with a hand. "Oh, well. Better luck next time," he giggled, apparently not coming down, just more thoughtful and serious than normal. "So, what're we learning today?" he questioned brightly, no longer seeming to care that his headphones were hanging around his neck still blaring music and his shockingly bright hair was now visible; two things guaranteed to draw attention to him (not to mention the all black clothing).

"I have no clue. I've had no time to listen, because you've been babbling like a maniac the entire time!" Roxas nearly yowled, resisting the urge to hit his currently high friend. "You moron. Why're you even in here in the first place?"

"Roxas," a voice decidedly not Axel's answered, "perhaps you would like to tell us why you have been disrupting the class by talking with you friend for the past 15 or so minutes?" The teacher stood before the pair, completely unnoticed by Axel, who had pulled his headphones back on again and was listening to his music at full blast once more. "And who exactly is your friend?" The professor hadn't noticed yet who Axel obviously was, odd, as he was well-known throughout the school as a pyro and a troublemaker, or he simply wanted Roxas to answer the question; it wasn't sure yet.

"Axel Erickson, at your service," the pyromaniac drawled, turning his CD player off and glancing over at the older man. Rising, he put his gloved hands into the back pockets of his black jeans. "And how exactly would you have me service you?" The teacher looked at him confusedly, before the teen clarified. "Would you prefer to take me to the teacher's lounge and fuck me there or something else?" His tones were quite pleasant and obliging, as if he meant what he said; knowing Axel, he might have.

"Wh-what!" the adult demanded, becoming more flustered than he had when he had entered late. "Well, Mr. Erickson, you and I can go right on down to the office, and see what the principal has to say about your behavior! Skipping class, disrupting another class, cursing, and making homosexual and pedophilic sexual innuendo in front of a 10th grade class!"

"Something else, then, I take it. A threesome, oh, goodie! It's been forever since I've had one of those! Now, I've forgotten, is the principal a man or a woman? Because, you know, there's different ways to have a threesome with either gender. I need to be prepared, though." Axel took it all in stride, smirking at the man; the pair were about the same height.

"Mr. Erickson!" he protested, taking the boy's arm sharply in his hand. "I will stand for no more of this! We're leaving right now!"

The class watched all this in silence, knowing it had gone better than they could even have hoped. Their mystery guest had been one of the more infamous students on campus, and he was in a particularly disruptive mood at the moment. It was highly likely there would be no more science for the day.

Hitting his forehead with his palm, Roxas cursed under his breath. Axel was normally a bit dim, but he had never gone as far as to offer to screw a teacher before, much less after already receiving his warning multiple times!

"Oh, wow, you sure do like to get straight down to business, don't you, mister?" Axel simply smirked as he was led out of the room; detentions and suspensions were common enough occurrences to him and his group, but, as far as everyone else knew, he had never taken it as far as to nearly accuse a teacher of pedophilia.

Hayner, who sat in the desk in front of Roxas with Pence, turned backwards once Axel and the teacher left, not even bothering to whisper. "Axel Erickson. Much as I really don't like him, we're lucky he came in here. We don't have class now!" He grinned, sitting in his chair so that his chest was against the back of his chair and his elbows on Roxas' desk.

"Why was he in here, anyways, Roxas?" Pence asked quietly. "Why was he sitting next to you? Do you know him?"

Before the blonde was given a chance to answer, Hayner jumped back into the conversation. "Roxas? Know Axel? Are you kidding? Roxas is a good little boy, and Axel, well, you just saw him in action. Most definitely not a 'good little boy'. What did he want?"

"Just to talk," Roxas answered, made uncomfortable by his friend's questions; they didn't know that, despite the fact that 'Axel wasn't a good little boy', he had befriended him, of a sort, anyways. "He was…" pausing, he wondered if he should tell his friends that the older boy had been high when he had entered the class.

"'He was' what?" Hayner pushed, waving to Olette as she walked towards them. "What was he doing?"

Well, so much for avoiding the question. "He was high when he was in here, that's it." Roxas did his best to shrug it off, but the stares his three friends gave him weren't about to let him get out of answering every question the student population ever had about Axel.

"High? I'd heard rumors about him doing things like that… but he was actually high? At school?" Olette gasped softly, sitting on the desk, where Axel's feet had been earlier. "Why would he do that?" She folded her hands in her lap, legs dangling off the side.

"I dunno," Roxas answered, shifting in his seat.

"You know what?" Hayner began, commanding their attention. "I don't know about him. You heard how he was talking to the teacher." The other three just sort of nodded at him, not following what he was saying. He sighed, exasperated, "he's flaming, you idiots! Are you blind? Axel Erickson is obviously gay!" Having finished, he looked around at the others, smirking almost proudly. "Can't you tell?"

Pence shrugged, trying his best not to take sides. "I-I don't know. I haven't met him, and it's not really fair to judge on what you've only heard as rumors…--"

He was interrupted by Hayner flailing his arms madly. "What? What! You can't tell? Look, do I need to spell it out for you? Axel acts gay, he's been rumored to have been gay, and just now he offered to let the teacher screw him! Now you tell me he's not gay."

"I'm not so sure," Roxas began quietly, feeling he owed Axel at least that much. "I told you, he was high when he came in here, and when he was talking to the teacher. That's it, he's not gay."

But Hayner completely ignored his friend, going on as if he had never stopped. "And, since Axel's undoubtedly gay, I think he's after our little Roxas, here." He glanced at the blonde pointedly, who blinked sharply before glaring at him.

"Look, that's really not funny, Hayner. Don't bring me into this," he growled, rising from his chair, angry, which countered the faint blush that had colored his tanned face. "You can talk about Axel all you want, but when you start to say things like that, I have to draw the line!" He had over-reacted; he knew that. But, since it only echoed his own feelings that the red-head might be gay, he didn't want to have Axel interested in him, even if only in idle conversation with his friends.

"Could we talk about something else, now?" Olette piped up, knowing that the conversation was making Roxas uncomfortable. Hayner could get stuck on a topic too easily, not seeing the obvious discomfort it brought to the others.

"Oh, good idea. What do you think Axel's doing right now? Think he's actually screwing the teacher?" Hayner's eyes lit up as he recognized his chance to talk about his theory of Axel being gay even more.

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When the science professor reached the principal's office, he knocked on the door angrily, having had to put up with Axel's 'witty' banter the entire time down there. When it was opened and the principal, a bespectacled man, let them in, he almost shoved the boy inside, following him in and closing the door sharply.

"What exactly happened?" the principal (_'Mr. Thomson,'_ Axel noticed) asked, sitting down in the chair behind his desk. "And why isn't your own teacher the one escorting you, Mr. Erickson? I'm sure Mr. Coyer has a class to teach."

"But that's just it, sir! He skipped class, coming to my own, which he disrupted by distracting a student, and, when confronted, began to mouth off in a manner I've never before seen!" the man answered, agitated. "So I brought him here to see you."

"Oh, a man-on-man-on-man threesome, hm? I can do that. It's much easier than two men and a woman. That gets much too messy," Axel shook his head regretfully, bright bangs falling into his eyes. "Well, should we get started? Who wants to do what?"

Mr. Thomson stared at him, before glancing to the teacher. "Is this how he mouthed off earlier?" He kept calm, unlike the other, peering at the hostile teen through his glasses. "Mr. Erickson, why weren't you in your own class? And where do you think you get off speaking like that to a teacher or a principal? Where do you think you get off talking like that to anyone, at that matter?"

"Because I don't like athletics," Axel shrugged, lounging in a chair despite the fact he had never been asked to sit. "I don't see why I should waste my time running in circles." At the last question, he brightened visibly, smirking widely before answering. "'Get off'? Well, I don't personally get off talking like that, though others might. And if I were, I'm sure it would be right here," he laughed softly, almost to himself, taking off a glove and allowing pale fingers to play about the crotch of his jeans. "You wanna try and get me off?" He watched both of them carefully, slipping the glove back on.

This time, both the principal and the teacher stared at him, shocked once more at his blatant disregard for rules and manners. "Mr. Erickson, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call your parents about this. You can't go around speaking like this. It is a public offense." Opening the student directory, he began to flip to the 'E's', ignoring the look the teen gave him. Finding the name in question, Mr. Thomson picked up his phone and began to dial the number listed there. Finishing, he waited for it to begin ringing.

"**_Can't you help me as I'm startin' to burn? _**

_**Too many doses and I'm starting to get an attraction. **_

**_My confidence is leaving me on my own._**

_**No one can save me and you know I don't want the attention."**_

Axel slipped his cell phone out from his messenger bag, singing along with the song (the same he had been listening to in Roxas' class), before flipping it open and emitting a cheery, "y'ello!"

"H-hello?" the principal asked, realizing that the number listed was the teen's cell.

"Axel speaking!" said teen replied, grinning at the man as he spoke, who hung up the phone. Following suit, he put his cell back into his bag before wrapping a bony arm about the back of the chair. "So, now what?"

"We're going to call your home phone now, and see if your mother or father picks up." He began to dial the second and last number, glancing at Axel, who put both of his hands in the air, as it rang.

"Yo, this is Axel. Can't answer right now, either 'cause I'm somewhere else or just not taking--

DEMYX! GET OUT OF MY REFRIDGERATOR! YES, RIGHT THIS INSTANT! YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND EATING MY FOOD! I HAVE TO BUY THAT, YOU KNOW!

Sorry 'bout that. But if you--

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE IN THERE! OUT, OUT, OUT, GET OUT! THAT'S MY BEDROOM! OUT!

Hiiiiiii. This is Demyx. I'm at Axel's house right now, just hanging out. Zexion and Marluxia are here, too, and you really don't want to know what they're doing. Anyways, Axel has a tub of ice cream sitting in his fridge, just so you know. Oh, and he has some weird stuff in his bedroom. Really weird. As in kinky weird. And on the counter, where this phone is, it's all black and junk, like scorched and all. He set the phone on fire a few weeks ago when he was bored. Had to buy a new one.

DEMYX, GET OFF THE PHONE, I'M TRYING TO LEAVE AN ANWSERING MACHINE-MESSAGE-THING!

Hey, Axel again. Try my cell if you can't catch me here. Adios!

--BEEP--"

The principal looked at him, hanging the phone up again. "Do you live by yourself?" he questioned gravely, having noticed the lack of parental supervision the teen seemed to have, along with at home, if Demyx's, Axel's friend and year-mate, words had been true.

"Yeah, so?" Axel shrugged, tipping the wooden chair back. "'Daddy was a cop an' momma was a hippie.'" He sang roughly, shoulders meeting the wall, balancing his weight. "That's how it goes, and poor little Axel's left to fend for himself." His eyes narrowed slightly, as if daring the two men to say anything about it; he didn't like the way this conversation was going. Whenever someone brought up his parents, things got awkward quickly; no one seemed to understand he enjoyed living alone. It wasn't even really 'alone', as Demyx had made the apartment his second home.

"Well, Mr. Erickson, I can't let you get away with what you did, so you're going to have three days of suspension." Axel nearly began laughing; three days? He got worse for only bad-mouthing in class, never mind skipping class and subjecting that teacher to his words. "But for now, I want you to get back to class. Your suspension will being after school today. And I expect you to get in no more trouble. Is that clear?"

Axel rolled his eyes as he stood, turning on his CD player and walking to the door, headphones still around his neck. "Yeah, yeah, clear as you can make it," he agreed, not paying attention anymore. "Which really isn't very clear," he added under his breath as he slammed he door behind him, the frosted glass rattling in it's frame.

As he made his way through the halls, he growled quietly as he wondered which class he was in at that point, anyways. He had skipped first period to mess with the water main, _'blow-torch took care of that, easy,'_ he thought; then, for second period, he had made his way to Roxas' class, where he had a little chat with the lower classman. Midway through that he was dragged off to the office, where he received his suspension notice. _'That'd make this third period. And I have to stay here for the whole day?'_ Hunching his shoulders up, he stalked through the hallway aimlessly. He glanced at his schedule, not having memorized it yet, it only being the third month of school.

**Science---Room B103---All Year (Marluxia and Zexion)**

**Athletics---Gymnasium---2 Quarters (No one)**

**Math---Room C208---All Year (Demyx)**

**Health---Portable C---2 Quarters (Demyx and Zexion)**

**A Lunch---Cafeteria---All Year (Demyx, Marluxia, Xemnas, Zexion, and Roxas)**

**Band---Room A116---All Year (Demyx)**

**Language Arts---Room B105---All Year (Xemnas)**

**Social Studies---Room B110---All Year (No one)**

"Math," he rolled his eyes, realizing he was going to have to explain to Demyx why he wasn't in science earlier, who would have heard it from his other friends (he had marked who was in his classes on his schedule). Shrugging, he turned up the volume on his CD player, noticing it was on the same song as earlier. Pleased, he began to sing softly to it, hardly noticing when the bell rang.

"Yo! Hey, Axel! 'ey!" came a demanding call. "Pay attention, man!" Demyx laughed loudly, yanking the headphones off. "Where were you this morning? I missed you before class, and Marluxia said you weren't in science. What's up with you today?" His bright eyes were wide as he questioned the smaller teen, looking down slightly, trying to meet his eyes. "Look at me, Axel," he commanded.

He complied, rolling his eyes as he paused his music. "Science? During science I was busy breaking a water main, so that I could skip at least part of athletics. That enough?" He continued to walk, his strides long, Demyx trotting to keep up.

"You? Flood the school? I could see me doing that, but not you. Remember? You like to light things on fire," Demyx continued, in much better shape that Axel, allowing him to fast-walk alongside him and talk normally at the same time.

The pyro glanced at Demyx, headphones around his neck for the second or third time that day. "I did it with a blow-torch."

"That's more like you. And where'd you go, then, if you didn't go to gym?"

"Science," Axel answered shortly, going up a flight of stairs.

"But didn't you skip science?" Demyx asked, confused by this point. "Marluxia said you never showed up…"

"Not my science class," the younger teen shook his head. "I went to someone else's'."

"Oh… who's did you go to?"

"Roxas'," Axel grinned, apparently still high. He opened the door to their class and slipped in, leaving his friend to deal with the door on his own. Walking to the back right of the class, he threw himself into the chair, dropping the messenger bag on the floor. Long fingers danced patterns on the desktop as Demyx sat in the desk next to him. Moving his hand from the desk to the neck of his sweatshirt, he played with the chains he had attached to it, in place of the drawstrings.

"Woah, Axel, what're you on?" Demyx questioned, lowering his voice to a whisper as the teacher entered, setting down her things before she began to write on the board. "What're you on and where can I get some?" he rephrased, grinning at his druggie friend.

"Just crack right now," Axel grinned widely, fingers going back to the desk to beat an erratic tattoo on the surface.

Demyx laughed once more, shaking his head as he commented, "wow, Axel. I've never seen you like this before. Why'd you go to Roxas' class, anyways? Do you even know him that well?"

"Kinda," the other shrugged, tipping his chair back so that lanky legs could thud onto the desk, one leg over the other, boots clunking on the wood as he did so. "He's a pretty cool kid, ya know?"

"I didn't know that. But did you know that he's Sora's cousin?" Demyx grinned back at his friend, waiting for his reaction.

Now, to put it simply, Axel, Demyx, and their friends were a gang, thus the reason they all dressed similar, and the reason Demyx had brought up Sora. Sora, Riku, and their friends were a bit of a 'rival gang', if they could call it that. They weren't so much a gang as a group of people with opposite views and personalities that didn't like the gang in general.

"What? Roxas and Sora are related? How could they be?" Axel demanded, perhaps a little louder than necessary, as the class and teacher all turned to look at him oddly. There was an awkward silence before Demyx took over.

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just tired, you know, not enough sleep. Teenagers have been proven to fall asleep later than regular people, and therefore get less sleep, leading many to believe that school should start later so that teens like Axel get their sleep and are less disruptive to the class." Demyx provided with an innocent smile.

"Thanks," the red-head whispered, silently praising his friend's extremely quick thinking. Demyx normally acted like a dumb blonde, but was brilliant when it came to things like excuses. And even Axel knew he couldn't risk another office visit.

"No problem, but you're going to owe me," he answered, winking. "But anyways, about Sora and Roxas. Can't you tell? They look almost exactly alike, except for hair and eye color!"

"And hair style," Axel added, trying to defend why he hadn't known. "And they act so different! I mean, come on, Sora wouldn't give me the time of day, and Roxas is worried when I get high!"

"Is he really?" Demyx asked, sitting up a little straighter. "He's actually worried? He's not all 'holy crack, I think you're on crack!' or anything?"

"Ha-ha, you're funny," Axel answered wryly, rolling his eyes once more. "No, he's actually worried. Kinda funny, actually, if you think about it. My own parents never really worried about me, and now some kid who I've hardly known for three months is worried about whether I'm shooting up or not."

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By the time lunch arrived, Axel was more than excited to get out of the classroom. Math had been less than entertaining, and while Health was a bit more interesting, talking about contagious and non-contagious diseases still wasn't the pyromaniac's idea of fun.

But lunch, when he had most of his friends all in one place, that was the highlight of his school day. Not only was Demyx, his best friend, there, but Zexion, Xemnas, and Marluxia were all there, too. And Roxas, of course; Axel had taken care to write his name on his schedule. The kid was too entertaining to pass up, not to mention Roxas' friends.

The first of his friends that he spotted was Zexion; the blue-haired teen was an obvious stand-out. Marluxia was with him, checking two-for-one off of his list. Xemnas wasn't too far behind them, seemingly lost in his own thoughts, and Demyx leapt up behind Axel, jumping on the light-weight teen's back.

"Yo, Axel, what's up, buddy?" he shouted, despite the fact he was literally on top of the other. "It's good to see you again!"

"Goddammit, Demyx, get off of me! We just had class together! I haven't even been out of your sight!" Axel shouted from the floor. Being the skinny figure that he was, when his taller and heavier friend had pounced of him, he had fallen to the floor, which was a usual occurrence when it came to Demyx.

Standing up, he offered a hand to the other, who took it, rising to his feet. "You've got to eat more. You're emaciated, Axel!" Laughing at his own joke, he put his own gloved hands into his pockets.

"Shut up!" Axel yelled, standing up and making sure to scream it in Demyx's ears.

The other three of his friends simply walked to the screaming pyro, grouping around him and Demyx. Marluxia was leaning against Zexion, smiling contentedly. It was quite obvious the pair were gay, though some believed Marluxia was simply a transsexual, not gay, which subjected him to different torments than Axel. Zexion had similar torments, but only those who didn't think his partner was a transsexual would poke fun at him for being gay.

Axel glanced around, having lost his friend. "Demyx? Where'd he get off to? I swear, if we didn't--" but he was interrupted by a bowl of spaghetti being thrust into his face, followed by a laugh from Demyx.

"Eat up, pole-boy! We can't have you snapping in half every time someone tries to hug you!" Demyx grinned widely, grabbing Axel's hand and dragging him to their established table. The other three followed after them, sitting down in their accustomed places.

Axel glanced meaningfully at his fork, or lack wherefore of. "Demyx?" he requested, before taking out a plastic baggie, which he set in his lap, before remarking, "and a knife, too, while you're at it."

"Right-o, Captain Bright-o!" Demyx answered, getting up and slipping through people nimbly to get to the eating utensils.

"'Captain Bright-o'?" Axel stared, at a loss for words.

When Demyx returned, he threw a knife, a fork, and a spoon at Axel, who ducked impulsively, before straightening, picking up the knife first. Opening the bag he had brought out, he poured a little of the white powder onto the table. Glancing about, he took the knife in hand, straightening the thin line of cocaine. When he was satisfied, he let his friends draw close as a kind of shield as he lowered his head, snorting the coke. Blinking rapidly, he breathed in as he sat up, before rubbing the edge of his nose.

"Nn," he mused, putting his hand back on the table. "Thanks," Axel nodded, slipping the bag away once more.

"You're going to end up getting caught one day if you keep doing that at school, Axel," Xemnas voiced, head on his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. "I know you can deal quite well with school trouble, but the actual legal system's much worse. Even you can't wriggle your way out of it."

Zexion looked from Xemnas to Axel, blue hair covering his eyes as Marluxia played with it, laughing softly to himself.

"You think so?" Axel asked, eyes closed as he waited for the drugs to kick in. "I really don't plan on getting caught. And I'm a minor with everything working in my favor. I have no parents to keep me on the right track, I'm in trouble at school, doing drugs. It all adds up to simply no parental influence. Worst thing that can happen is I either get juvvie or sent to some sort of foster home for a while. If I'm at some foster home, it's even easier to lift cash, you know?" He grinned, sliding about so that he could rest his back on the table. Tilting his head back, he let it lay on the table, slightly blood-shot green eyes looking up at his friends. "And whatever. I haven't been caught yet. Have any of you?"

The others shook their heads, before Xemnas remarked cautiously, "but none of us take it so far as to bring it to school, Axel."

"But it's the risk, the thrill of it that's half the fun!" Axel waved his hands wildly, nearly knocking things off the table.

"You guys shouldn't be yelling about it, though. Wait until schools out. Alright?" Marluxia requested, finally speaking up, looking to them from his spot basically on Zexion's lap.

"Axel, you're suspended for three days, anyways. We'll have plenty of time to talk about it then, but anyways, you'll also have plenty of safe time to get high. So just hold off until you get home." Zexion opened his eyes, which had closed when Marluxia was playing with his hair as he spoke, watching his two friends.

"Fine, fine, fine," Axel shrugged, turning around and sitting up again. "No more at school." Looking around, he saw a familiar blond that was shorter than his imposing best friend. "Lookit! There's Roxas! I'm going to go talk to him!" he told them, before he was up, bag once more hanging from his shoulder as he made his way through the crowds of people wanting to eat to get to the 10th grader. "Roxas, hey, hold still for a second!" he shouted, half running and half hopping to Roxas as he tried to avoid running into people.

Roxas looked up after hearing his name called. "What? Oh, it's Axel again," he noticed, moving only far enough to get to his own table, which was the other half of the table Sora and his friend's sat at. Hayner, Pence, and Olette joined him there, setting their trays down.

"Axel? Really? Is he stalking you or something?" Hayner asked, picking up his chocolate milk to drink. At a glance from Olette, he rolled his eyes before adding a grumbled, "not to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"I really have no clue," Roxas answered, starting to open his own chocolate milk, watching the red-head seemingly dance his way to them in an attempt to avoid being trampled in the crowd. "I wonder what he wants."

Upon reaching them, Axel threw himself down on the stool beside Roxas, snatching the chocolate milk. "I swear, they're putting crack in the chocolate milk! I mean, everyone has one!" Plucking the cap off, he held it in one hand while he downed Roxas' milk, holding it with the other. "Woah, that's some good milk," he nodded enthusiastically, setting it back down, still holding the lid. "No crack, but still good milk." He wiped his mouth off with a sleeve, before leaning over to spin the lid on it's side, not unlike a top.

"Um… hi, Axel. Axel, this is Pence, Hayner, and Olette. You three, this is Axel Erickson," Roxas did his best to introduce them, but Axel was distracted by the spinning bottle top, and only waved for a split second.

Olette, who was sitting right across from him, smiled at him, tucking a stray hair behind her ear as she began to speak. "It's good to meet you, Axel. I'm Olette. How're you doing?" Another winning smile as she waited for him to answer.

"Oh, yeah, fun, good, very," Axel answered, words jumbled up. When Roxas slammed his hand down on the milk top, Axel jumped, before snapping back to attention. "Olette! Good to meet you, Axel," he nodded, before blinking to Roxas, as if asking him what to do next. Not so inconspicuously, Roxas mimed shaking someone's hand. Axel grinned, before offering a gloved hand to Olette, who took it, and he shook her hand. "Ah, very good, very good!"

"P-Pence," Pence stated, offering his own hand to the older and taller teen. "Good to meet you?"

Axel, having caught on by now, shook his hand before glancing to Hayner, offering his hand and a drug-induced smile.

"It's Hayner, and there's no way in hell I'm shaking your hand, fag-boy." Hayner crossed his arms across his chest, as if daring Axel to try and get along with him.

Roxas growled at Hayner, but knew there was no changing his mind. He looked to Axel worriedly, wondering how the temperamental upperclassman would respond.

"If you feel that way, it's fine by me; I've heard it all before. Gay, fairy, pixie, fag, faggot, fag boy, queer, homo, whore, slut; none of it's new to me." Axel shrugged, standing, before adding, "if you're afraid of me for being gay, if that's how you see me, than that makes you a homophobic." As he began to walk off, unable to resist, he called back, perhaps a bit louder than necessary, "see ya later, 'phobe."

Hayner sneered at the teen's retreating back, a hand raising to flick him off angrily. "You queer," he hissed under his breath, before turning back to Roxas. "See? He's gay!" He expected Roxas to admit he was right, or something along those lines. He certainly didn't expect his friend to full out punch him in the face when he turned back around; which is what Roxas did.

"You fucking idiot! Even if he is gay, he still deserves some sort of respect! And I think he's right! You're homophobic!" Roxas pulled his fist back, noticing it was shaking slightly, glaring at Hayner. "What's _wrong_ with you? He's still a person who has feelings!" Even though Axel was high, there would be no forgetting that little conversation for a while.

"What the hell, Roxas!" Hayner demanded, watching as Roxas stood up, following the lanky teenager who had left first. "What's up with him?" he mumbled, a hand rising to feel his swollen jaw.

Axel, who was moving rapidly away from Roxas and his friends, no longer took care in avoiding the other people milling around him. He simply walked through the cafeteria, ignoring those in his way.

"Axel, hey, wait up!" Roxas shouted, getting lost in the crowd. He could still see the red hair of the other, who threw himself down on his chair among his friends. Growling, he began to force his way through, finally making it to Axel's table.

Axel sat there with his head on the table, cheek pressed flat against the wood, face turned away from Roxas. His friends watched Roxas as he approached, the tall blonde standing up in front of Axel protectively.

"What do you want? I think you and your crowd have done enough already," Demyx growled, folding his own arms as he glared down at Roxas.

Roxas glanced about, noticing the blue-haired boy and the brunette, along with the oddly silver-haired teen, all of which were watching him, though none as sharply nor as angrily as Demyx. "Hayner was out of line," Roxas provided, looking up to meet the angry blonde's gaze.

"Damn straight! Do you know how much of that Axel goes through in a day? A week? You have absolutely no clue the shit he's been through, so don't even try and understand. Just fuck off and leave him alone," Demyx commanded, sitting down and turning to Axel's prone form.

"You should let him alone for now. Demyx may be a bit over-protective, but everything he said is true," the brunette, Marluxia, murmured to Roxas before turning his attention back to Zexion, kissing his cheek flirtatiously, smiling happily when the other put an arm around his shoulders.

"Well? Are you going to gape and him and call him something else, or are you going to leave him alone?" Demyx nearly shouted this time, looking away from his best friend for a moment, long enough to chew Roxas out for not leaving.

"I wanted to apologize on Hayner's behalf… Axel's my friend, and Hayner had no right to--"

"You aren't Hayner, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't exactly want to apologize to Axel. And Axel's your friend? What exactly do you know about him? And if your other friends are going to treat him like this, I'd say you aren't a very good friend to him. So, again, screw off." Demyx narrowed his eyes, before a bony gloved hand yanked on his sweatshirt hood, pulling him back. Axel mumbled something unintelligible to Demyx, who nodded, before turning to Roxas. "He wants me to tell you that he's not mad at you, but he really doesn't even want to hear about Hayner anymore."

Roxas nodded, knowing there was nothing else he could do, much as it frustrated him. Turning, he began to walk off, but stopped a bit aways, noticing none of the black-clad teens were watching him.

Demyx had Axel in his lap and was running an ungloved hand through his friend's hair, allowing Axel to rest his head against his chest. Tears had left faint streaks down his cheeks and over the black triangle tattoos under his eyes.

Roxas stepped closer to listen to what Axel was saying, curious despite himself and the anger with which Demyx had told him to leave.

"I said what you told me to, Demyx," Axel mumbled, pressing his face against the black sweatshirt that Demyx also wore.

"Well, what happened?" Demyx asked patiently, still running his hand through Axel's hair, as if trying to soothe him.

"But it didn't work. He didn't care, and it didn't make me feel any better about what he had said," the druggie answered, shaking his head.

Demyx's own eyes softened, and he let his hand rest on Axel's back. "Well, it seems like the crack's not working as well as it should be. You sure you got the good stuff, 'cause you're coming down way soon, and way hard."

Axel cracked a weak smile at his friend's words, before nodding thankfully. "That's it, I'm sure. I'm never buying from that dealer again. Cheap shit never does the job right; just makes everything worse, which isn't the point of it, in the first place."

"Exactly," Demyx nodded, hugging him close once more, allowing himself a smile. "Go for the more expensive stuff, even if it costs more. 'Cause Axel, when you're down, you're a real downer, you know what I mean?

"Yeah, I know what you mean," the smaller teen agreed, before shifting uncomfortably and awkwardly. "'ey, Demyx, I'm better now. You can let go of me."

"Right!" Demyx nodded, releasing him and letting the pyro get up and sit down on his own seat.

Roxas stared at them. So it wasn't just Axel who was a druggie, but Demyx, too, apparently, which most likely meant the whole group was on drugs. He shivered involuntarily. So Axel was finally coming down; even Roxas knew some things about drugs: when you came down, it wasn't just a few sad and emotional minutes; it lasted longer than that, so Axel was either used to it or a good actor. Knowing Axel, it was both. Still a bit wary, he turned to leave, walking back to his friends.

"So, what're you planning to do for the rest of the day?" Demyx asked, leaning on the table and looking at Axel. "We've got band left together, and you still have… social studies and language arts, right?"

"In opposite order, but yes," Axel nodded, standing and grabbing his bag, which he slung over his shoulder. His shoulders were hunched again, despite his words that he was fine, the drugs were just wearing off. For a moment his carefully constructed disguise faltered, as his eyes let forth a flicker of pain before it was rapidly and much too easily put back up. "I dunno… I think I'll just skip class. Demyx, Xemnas, think you can convince the teachers I was sent home earlier because I was sick?" he requested, turning to glance back at them.

"I can do that, and I'll do the same for your social studies' teacher," Xemnas nodded, hands in his pockets as he continued walking.

"Oh, sure, no problem," Demyx agreed, following his friend. Still obviously worried, he pulled Axel aside from the students, who were all leaving, falling behind to talk to him. "Axel, are you alright? You're really screwed up right now," he began, a hand on either of the smaller boy's shoulders.

"I'm fine, and let me go," Axel commanded, pulling away and walking quickly towards the others, who hadn't slowed; Axel and Demyx often had 'little talks'.

With a near snarl, Demyx stood in front of him, grabbing Axel's much-too-thin wrist. "Listen to me! You haven't been eating at all recently, you're even more risky than normal… you're not yourself!" If it had been some sort of romance novel, Demyx might have added 'you're not the man I fell in love with!', but that wasn't how their relationship was, nor was it a novel.

"So? What matter of it is yours?" Axel shot back, pulling away and trying to duck away from the older boy, who stubbornly followed him. "Leave me alone!" he yelled, moving faster, pulling his hood up as if in an attempt to hide.

"Axel! Axel!" the musician shouted, shoving his way too the other. When he caught up, he grabbed the pyro's upper arm, dragging him from the crowd and pushing him into the men's restroom. "Look, listen to me, Axel," he began, before noticing Axel's expression.

Axel's eyes were downcast, purposefully not meeting those of his friend. The hood, which was pulled low, nearly covered his face to his nose, wiping all semblance of the pyromaniac from him, except for his constant slouched posture.

"Stand up straight," Demyx requested, getting off track. "C'mon, that's not good for your back." When Axel only shook his head with a half-hearted mumble, Demyx grabbed the hood, pushing it off of his friend's face and hair, so that he ended up with an arm around Axel's side.

Axel looked up at him, his hair mussed up from the hood being thrown roughly back. He fell forwards into Demyx's chest, hands clutching at the other's sweatshirt. His knees buckled, causing him to nearly fall to the ground, but Demyx caught him, helping him stand up.

"You sure you're…" Demyx began, before noticing that Axel was clinging weakly to him, eyes glazed over, expression vacant. "You all there, man?" he asked, waving a hand in front of the other's face.

"Hnn, yeah?" Axel blinked, weak from hunger, having to grab onto the stronger teen's upper arms to remain standing.

The pair stood there like that for a while, before Demyx cautiously took a hand and tilted Axel's face to him, so that the green and blue eyes (_'Roxas…?'_ Axel wondered dazedly) met. Both were silent, though for different reasons, as Demyx leaned over, kissing the fragile teen on the lips, wrapping both arms around Axel, keeping him standing as the boy nearly passed out of his feet, a combined effect of the drugs and no food. Demyx slipped the glove off of his hand, running it through Axel's red hair again, treasuring the moment. Axel blinked at the action, snuggling into the older's chest, smile contented. Axel's eyes drooped shut as he fell asleep, held there by Demyx.

The two stood like that for a few minutes, before the tardy bell rang, waking the sleeping teenager, who's eyes widened sharply, before he looked up at Demyx.

Demyx slowly let him go, making sure he could stand, concerned again.

"What…what happened?" Axel asked, leaning against the wall, still exhausted.

"You fell asleep on your feet while I was trying to talk to you, and I had to catch you," Demyx answered, biting a lip nervously. It was a plausible enough lie.

"Oh, thanks," Axel answered almost blankly, putting a hand to his head. "Damn, I've got a massive headache going on. Not fun, not fun," he shook his head, before wincing; bad idea.

"No problem," Demyx shrugged, standing beside Axel and putting a hand on the other's shoulder as he looked down. "You need to sit down?" he inquired carefully.

"Yeah, at least for a minute; I'll see you later sometime," Axel nodded, sitting down on the floor, head in his hands as he tried to ward off the headache. When Demyx only crouched beside him, Axel glanced over to him. "You can go to class." Band was their class right now; though Axel was planning on skipping it, he knew it was Demyx's favorite class, as the musician seemed to have a passion for playing the electric guitar.

"Hey, you're my friend. If you're not feeling well, I'm going to make sure you're alright. Missing one class is fine, my record's pretty much clean," Demyx reassured him, wrapping an arm around Axel's shoulders.

Axel nodded, still not all there, "oh."

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"Roxas, you ass!" Hayner yelled, catching up with his friend, who had stalked off when the lunch bell rang, apparently still in a bad mood. "The faggot deserved it! Why the hell'd you hit me?" As Roxas continued to ignore him, his black and white checked jacket moving through the crowd. "Stop ignoring me!"

Roxas growled to himself. This was the second time that day someone had decided to follow him, although, this time, his stalker wasn't about to be quiet about it. Clenching his teeth against a comeback, he only hoisted his backpack further up on his shoulders; he quickened his pace, storming into his classroom. It would be impossible to continue to ignore Hayner; they both had language arts together.

Hayner, as he expected, slamming the door as he entered, threw himself into his seat beside Roxas. "Now. Answer me. Why were you protecting the queer?" He began to get out his things, still watching Roxas.

"Because he's my friend," Roxas hissed, taking a leaf out of Axel's book and simply shoving Hayner's books off the desk. "And I hate it when a friend says something bad about another friend."

"Yeah?" Hayner shot back, picking his books up and standing, "if he's your friend, you can have him, but I won't have anything to do with the fag and his friends." Striding off, he called back with a sneer, "so find yourself someone else to sit by!" He sat down beside Sora and Riku, who only glanced at him. Sora looked from his cousin to Hayner and then back again questioningly.

Roxas only shrugged setting his backpack down. Picking up a pencil, he set the tip on a piece of paper, doodling aimlessly as he began to think about what to write about. While he was thinking, he drew a stick figure, before adding clothing. Still at a loss, the boy added hair, making it spiky like Axel's. Amused now, he drew the chains on the sweatshirt, and carefully marked the triangles under the eyes. Taking a green colored pencil out, he made the eyes green, remembering they were strikingly colored.

Holding his paper up, he blew on it, before setting it back down. Not content yet, he drew another stick figure, this time with the semblance of Hayner, getting beaten up by the Axel stick figure. Laughing softly to himself, he slipped it into his folder. He would have to show that to Hayner; it was really funny, and he knew his friend would appreciate it. Roxas stopped, before glancing at Hayner, Sora, and Riku. Hayner wasn't his friend anymore.

Pence, as always, would remain neutral, trying to stay friends with both, but what about Olette? What would she do?

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Demyx nearly fell as Axel stumbled, steadying him. "Hey, lean on my shoulder, alright?"

Axel nodded, head falling back down again as he tried to remain awake. His eyes were closed again as he hung off of his friend's shoulder, shoes scuffing the ground.

Picking up the half-asleep teen, Demyx blushed faintly at the closeness, before readjusting his backpack and continuing to walk. He knew the way to Axel's apartment by heart now, having walked his friend home every day, and always ended up spending most of his free time there.

Slipping his hand into his pocket as he reached the right door, he unlocked the apartment, doing his best to carry Axel inside while holding the door open, along with his own backpack and Axel's messenger bag. Dropping both bags on the ground, he lay Axel down on the couch, sitting beside him, Axel's head on his lap.


	2. Always There

-'Erickson' (Axel's last name) is 'Gin and Sin'. Very good fic.

The lyrics in the first chapter are 'Bat Country' by Avenged Sevenfold.

The second lyrics are 'Dani California', by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my laptop and the glass of orange juice I was drinking while writing this (I have a cold ).-

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Axel woke up sometime after noon on Tuesday, the first day of his suspension. He shifted, his entire being, especially his arms and upper body, extremely stiff, and his head was host to a pounding headache. "Oh, man, what the hell happened?" he groaned, noticing he was lying on the couch. But something else also surprised him. Demyx was sitting on the couch, Axel's head in his lap, a hand on the red-head's chest, the other dangling off the arm of the couch. The musician had fallen asleep with Axel's head in his lap, sitting up on the couch, in simpler terms. "Damn, Demyx, that can't be comfortable," Axel grinned, not moving. "Wake up," he called, raising a hand to grab at Demyx's jaw.

Demyx yawned, blue eyes opening. "Whaaa…? Oh, hey, Axel. Sleep good?" He questioned, free hand moving to cover his mouth. "What time is it?" he asked, glancing about for a clock.

The pyro found a clock, glancing at it before remarking, "a little past 1… oh, shit, Demyx, you have school!" he realized, sitting bolt upright. "You've already missed half the day!" Axel cursed under his breath as his headache became worse. Shifting gingerly, he lay back down, taking care not to lay on Demyx.

"It's alright. I want to get you fed first. You can be skinny, but this skinny," Demyx pulled Axel's shirt off; having taken the sweatshirt off before he fell asleep, showing his friend his easily visible ribs. "That's not healthy."

Axel looked down at his chest, shrugging. His torso was covered in bruises of varying size, most of them about his chest and arms. He noticed his friend staring and mumbled a soft, "gym class."

"What? What's going on in gym?" Demyx demanded, tossing the shirt back to Axel.

"When we play basketball, I don't pay attention and get hit by the ball a lot," he mumbled, looking away, hiding his bare upper body under the shirt.

"We need to get you fed," Demyx nodded, back on track. He walked to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, rolling his eyes as he recognized the melting carton of ice cream. With a snort, he tossed it into the trash, rustling through the various food items. "Axel… there's pretty much nothing in your kitchen. No wonder you're so skinny! You don't have any food!"

"I'm broke," Axel murmured, looking away from the now-irate blonde. "I need to do something for cash," he shrugged, rolling onto his side; face centimeters away from the back of the couch.

Demyx turned around to face him, closing the freezer door and walking back to his friend. "You're broke? So you haven't been eating, instead spending all your money on drugs? You can't do that!"

"So?" Axel growled, rolling onto his face, his words really a mumble. "Why can't I?"

"Because you'll die if you don't eat anything!" Demyx yelled, walking back to him. "I'm going to school, and when I get back, we're going grocery shopping." He picked up his pack, slinging it over one shoulder before walking to the door. "And I don't care if you're broke, Axel, I'm not."

When he left, Axel rolled off the couch, noticing his sweatshirt neatly folded and put on the table, along with his bag. Smiling, he tossed his shirt into his room, going into his closet to replace it with a grey-ish shirt that went almost down to his knees. Instead of the jeans he was wearing, he slipped into a pair of much-too-big black shorts that he had to tighten all the way using the drawstring. His boots were already taken off, by Demyx, he presumed.

Slipping around in his socks, Axel flopped back down on the couch, feet up on the coffee table. A pale hand reached for the clicker, flicking it on. He channel-surfed for a while, not finding anything on; when he made it to the USA Network ("Characters Welcome!' the TV was saying), he paused there, recognizing the show as one Demyx liked to watch when he was at Axel's apartment. Axel shrugged, not having found anything better on and curled up on the couch, a blanket pulled over his skinny form.

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Demyx arrived late to band, tossing the excuse to the teacher as he walked to his spot. While electric guitar wasn't exactly a band instrument, Demyx had insisted on it, and somehow gotten his way. Picking up the oddly sky-blue instrument, he glanced to the right, where he would normally find Axel lounging there, banging drumsticks against the wall.

The other students glanced at Demyx, as if asking him where Axel was, but he only shrugged, refusing to answer their questions. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh, Axel's not here today, because he mouthed off to a teacher and got suspended, and is probably getting high right this instant.'

Yeah right.

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Roxas was back in language arts, doing his best to ignore Hayner, Sora, and Riku, who were all sitting towards the front. He threw a pencil down on his desk, which bounced, almost falling off. Snatching it, he set it down, mumbling curses under his breath. This day wasn't getting any better, and Roxas wasn't expecting it too.

He wrote until the bell rang; most of the things he wrote were simply complaints, and what had happened to make him complain so. When the bell did ring, he shoved his things into his bag, hurrying to be the first one out of the class. He didn't want to have to put up with anyone else.

Making it to his next class, he simply walked to the teacher, who was writing math equations on the board. "Excuse me," Roxas began, hands behind his back. When the teacher looked at him, he started speaking again. "I'm not feeling too well. Could I go home early today? My mother, when I told her I wasn't feeling well this morning, told me that if I felt sick, I should ask to go home, because she didn't want me doing badly in school, when I could have gone home and gotten better, so I could do my best."

The teacher nodded with a smile. "You go on down to the office. You have a ride home?" she answered, waiting for his response before she resumed her work.

"I'll call my mom, she can pick me up," Roxas answered, leaving the room. He was getting almost as good at skipping class as Axel was; not a good thing, though Roxas was a little bit less destructive in the process. He walked quickly through the hall, taking care not to break into a run.

He passed the office without so much as glancing at it, slipping out the main entrance double doors as inconspicuously as possible. Roxas reached into his pocket, grabbing change as he made it to the bus-stop, where he waited impatiently for the bus to arrive. When it did, he handed the driver his change, walking to a seat near the middle. The bus was empty around this time of day; 2 o'clock or so in the afternoon, when most were at work or school. 'Like I should be,' Roxas thought grimly, before gritting his teeth and preparing himself for the task at hand.

Roxas was going to apologize to Axel for Hayner's behavior, and let the older teen know that he was no longer friends with Hayner; it wasn't all planned out yet, but he would figure it out on the way there. He checked the slip of paper with the pyro's address written on it again, wanting to make sure he got out at the right stop.

After a good 20 minutes, the bus lurched to a halt, flinging Roxas forwards into the seat before him, head banging painfully. "Damn," he mumbled, stumbling to his feet, a hand pressed to his forehead. When he exited the bus, it took on only a few passengers before creaking off again.

"So, which one, which one?" the teen questioned, looking at the paper; #308B, it read, apparently an apartment number. To tell the truth, Roxas had never been to an apartment complex before, so he was a bit confused as to where to start. He waked up the stairs, looking around.

"No! You're going to kill him, don't do that, do what the other guy was telling you to do!" yelled a familiar voice; faint as if shouted through a door 15 feet away, but a familiar voice nonetheless.

"Axel," Roxas murmured, trusting the voice was his, but not trusting what it was saying. What was going on in there? Padding warily to the door, he rapped on it three times, before stepping back, ready to run if necessary.

The door creaked open, revealing the gaunt figure of Axel, along with his shockingly red hair; oddly, he seemed to be dressed in a kind of pajamas, a baggy T and shorts. "Roxas!" he recognized him, throwing the door open happily. "Good to see you again, Roxas!" he nodded cheerfully, stepping aside to let him in.

Roxas entered, expecting total chaos, but the apartment was unexpectedly clean; there was a lighter, along with a credit card, a plastic bag, and a few random sheets of paper sitting on the coffee table and a pair of boots in the middle of the floor, but that was about it. Turing back around, he found the door was closed and Axel was no longer standing there. Looking back to the couch, he saw the teen curled up with a blanket watching TV. Roxas walked to the couch, sitting down beside Axel, backpack on the floor beside him, before looking to the screen. On it, a doctor with a cane ran through the hallways, yelling something that made no sense to Roxas, who had just entered, but it did apparently to the older boy.

"I told you! You're going to kill him if you try that! Listen to your co-workers for once!" Axel yelled back, arms thrashing wildly. When the patient, sleeping, seemed to develop bleeding ulcers on the outside of his chest, Axel grinned widely. "See!"

The blonde made a face, not exactly liking the program. "What the hell is this?" he asked, turning to look to Axel, who was obviously enjoying his suspension.

"This? Oh, it's 'House'. Demyx likes to watch it when he's over here. It's been on all day, it's a marathon," Axel nodded, attention still focused on the screen, which flickered with the character's movement, apparently appeasing the teen.

"Oh." Roxas had heard of the show before; Riku had been watching it once when Roxas had gone over to get Sora. He himself wasn't a fan, but it seemed both Demyx and Axel were. Somehow, he could picture them both watching it together, both of them high and screaming at the TV in an attempt to steer the wayward doctor onto the right course of medicine. "Axel, I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes. Is that alright?" he asked slowly, waving a hand in front of the druggie's face. When Axel snapped to attention, turning his entire body to face Roxas, he began to try and talk to him.

"Axel, about what happened yesterday. I know I tried to explain yesterday, but you weren't it too good of a shape or anything. I talked to Hayner yesterday about it and all. He was worse, even, he said he didn't care and that you were gay and he didn't think you deserved…" He paused, trying to re-organize his thoughts. Maybe he should have thought about what he was going to say on the way there. "But I ended up saying that he should treat you with more respect, and listen to what you say, and not to judge you because you're gay… I mean, because he thinks you're gay, and--" He broke off as he noticed Axel watching him a bit more intently. "Axel?" he questioned.

Axel's mouth formed into a sort of a small smile before he shifted his position, pressing his mouth against that of Roxas'. The light-weight teen slipped a hand up the back of the other's shirt, pulling the younger to him, green eyes closed almost happily. They opened slowly as the addict shifted his position, carefully and skillfully maneuvering Roxas onto his back on the sofa, straddling him. Leaning down once more, he kissed Roxas again, tongue making it past the other's lips to run across his tongue.

Roxas was caught completely by surprise, and before he even was sure what was happening, was on his back, Axel on top of him. His blue eyes were wide before the other pulled away, moving to strip Roxas' shirt off. "Axel! Hey! Woah!" he interjected, scooting away from Axel so that he could sit up. "What're you doing?"

Axel blinked; it was his turn to be surprised. "Kissing you," he explained simply, hair hanging in his face as he smiled once more, only half there.

"You're high. I'm going to go now, alright? I know people do crazy shit when they're high, so… so I'm not going to hold it against you; this never happened," Roxas managed to get out, standing and grabbing his backpack, leaving the apartment. As he began to trot down the stairs, he almost ran into Demyx, who stared at him curiously, noticing he was in a hurry.

Demyx stopped moving, turning his gaze to follow the boy down the steps before shrugging it off and going into Axel's apartment, where Roxas apparently had come out of. "Axel, I'm back!" he called, tossing his bag to the ground. "You watching House? Cool, cool. Look, what was Roxas doing here?"

Axel was sitting on the couch, a nearly blissful expression on his face. "He came to talk, I think," he did his best to remember what had happened, "but I kissed Roxas!"

Demyx stared at him, moving to sit next to him, where Roxas had been before. "You kissed Roxas?" Evidently that was what had made Axel so happy; kissing Roxas. "How is that a good thing?"

"How couldn't it be?" Axel wanted to know, crawling to sit on Demyx's lap, turning his head to look up into his friend's face. "Of course it's a good thing! I really like Roxas," he admitted, his pale face becoming colored with a faint blush as he smiled.

"You like Roxas? You mean, you have a crush on him?" Demyx tried to clarify things, utterly confused by this point. "How come you didn't tell me this?"

"Yeah! A crush! I have a crush on Roxas," Axel hugged himself, almost overcome with glee (for that was the best word to describe it) as he recognized it as a crush. "Tell you…? Oh, I couldn't tell you, as I just realized it myself! He's really nice to me, and came over here just to apologize for Hayner again, and I think he said they aren't friends anymore because of it!" He smiled some more, leaning against Demyx's chest.

"That's nice, Axel," Demyx answered, eyes closed. "But how high are you right now, and how freaked out is Roxas?"

"Oh, I dunno to either of them," Axel shrugged, pulling the blanket up over himself and Demyx. "But he's kinda there for me, you know what I mean? Like you, only you're always here, especially when I need you and even when I don't need you." With that, he looked quizzically up at Demyx. "Why're you here right now, exactly, anyways?"

"Because I always am," was all the musician could answer, wrapping his arms around Axel and holding him to himself. "And always will be."

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Roxas hurried down the street, sure of where he was now; he was in Olette's neighborhood. Reaching her house, he knocked on the door hurriedly. "Answer, answer, answer, answer, please, Olette, open up!" he whispered quickly, almost falling into the house with relief when Olette answered.

"Roxas? Where've you been? I know you and Hayner aren't getting along right now, but Pence and I are still your friends," she remarked, moving aside to let him into her house. "We'll always be your friends, so you don't need to avoid--"

This time is was Roxas' turn to interrupt someone, though not quite in such a shocking way as Axel had. "Olette, it's not that. I really need to talk to you; it's important."

The way he spoke to her, so serious and yet almost scared, it made Olette think of one of her girl friends coming over to her house or calling her, saying 'Olette, I think I'm pregnant.' Luckily, Roxas was not a girl, so they didn't have to worry about it; but her mind skipped to the next thing. "Roxas, do you have AIDS?" she whispered, grabbing his arm and leading him up the steps to her room.

"What? No, that's not it, I don't have AIDS. Why did you even think of that?" Roxas answered indignantly, looking at her funny as he followed her up quickly. When she sat down in a chair and he on her bed, he crossed his ankles, looking at them intently, all of a sudden not sure what to say to her.

Olette stood, moving to sit beside him, an arm comfortingly put about his shoulders. "Now you just think about what it is you need to tell me, and take your time if you need to."

Roxas nodded, reassured. "I went to Axel's apartment, to apologize for what Hayner said yesterday," he began, fiddling with the black and white checkered wristband as he spoke. "But Axel was high when I was trying to talk to him; high again," he shook his head, frustrated by that simple fact. "But, while I was talking, just, out of nowhere, he just kisses me. I mean, not just a quick peck on the cheek thing, he kissed me on the lips, and ended up on top of me, a hand up my shirt and his tongue in my mouth!" Antagonized, Roxas growled frustratedly, not liking being confused, especially by a crack-head like Axel.

"So Axel kissed you?" Olette repeated, only hardly believing what her friend was telling her. "Do you think it was just because he was high--oh, never mind, carry on," she blushed, realizing she had interrupted him when she was trying to help him figure things out.

"Well, you see, the thing is," it was Roxas' turn to blush, looking away at his shoes, "well, I kind of… liked it." When he finished, he looked to Olette, confused; he didn't know why he had liked it, he didn't even think he liked Axel that much as a friend, even, as he was a druggie.

"You liked it when he kissed you?" Olette confirmed, before falling silent, thinking about what Roxas' had told her had happened. Still not sure how to answer, she waited for him to continue, which he did.

"It felt nice," the blonde admitted. "He caught me by surprise, but I didn't really mind it." He chewed on his lip for a minute, before adding, "does that mean I'm gay?"

Olette smiled at his words, shaking her head. "No, it doesn't mean you're gay." Holding up a finger, she kept him from speaking as she finished. "It just means you're in love." She couldn't resist; she had to put it that way; to her, it just sounded so much better. "Roxas, this could be your first love," she exclaimed happily, hugging him simply for that fact. The thing she didn't add was that most 'first loves' never worked out quite right, always seeming to end with one or both of the people getting hurt. But it wasn't time for that!

"I'm not gay, I'm just in love with Axel?" Roxas asked, confused and trying to clarify. "But Axel's a guy, like me. So if I'm in love with him, wouldn't that make me gay?" An understandable enough question.

"No, you're just a guy who's happened to fall in love with another guy. You can't control that," Olette disagreed, rephrasing his words. "That doesn't make you gay."

"What? I'm lost now. Me and Axel somehow isn't gay; then what is gay, then?" Roxas looked to her, fiddling with his wristband again. His thoughts were nearly pointless by now; similar to a squirrel trying to reach a birdfeeder when it's a few feet from the tree--too many jumps and not enough thought process.

"'Gay' is simply what other say about that. 'Gay' is a stereotype; men talking like women and dressing oddly. But there are guys, like yourself, who have simply found that they love another male. That's it," Olette finished, glancing to him.

"Okay, when I understand what you just said, I'll let you know," Roxas agreed finally, eyes shut in confusion.

"You're not gay, you just are in love with Axel. Nothing more to it, that's all," she rolled her eyes, summing it up.

"Now why couldn't you have just said that in the first place?" Roxas demanded playfully, feeling a bit better now that things had (somewhat) been explained. "So I take it you're still my friend?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm always your friend, Roxas," Olette smiled, before her smile widened and she added, "you know, now that you're gay, we're going to have to go shopping sometime at the mall and judge each other's taste in guys."

"Olette!" Roxas yelped, blushing furiously, "what're you saying? We just--"

She giggled, cutting him off. "I'm kidding, just kidding," she waved her hand, putting it over her heart, "I swear. Though about your taste in guys…"

Roxas eyed her suspiciously, still blushing. "What about him?" he asked, folding his arms in mock-anger.

"All I'm saying is you have pretty good taste. Axel's not too bad looking. Though he could do with a little more weight, you know?" Olette took a furtive glance at Roxas' expression and burst out laughing. "What? It's true!"

"Not funny, not funny!" Roxas yelled, thumping her gently on the shoulder. "Very not funny! That was just low, I'm sorry," he shook his head, letting loose a snort of laughter. "But you're right, it is true; Axel's way skinny." Though he spoke as if he was to terms with it, having been told by Olette that he was in love with Axel was still unsettling; it'd take quite a while to get 'used' to it.

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A banging on the apartment door woke Axel for the second time in as many days to find himself in Demyx's arms. "Woah, we've gotta stop doing that," he laughed, flicking Demyx's nose affectionately. "One day, somebody's going to walk in and wonder just what the hell was going on." Throwing the blanket off himself, he leapt up, wavering on his feet for a moment as his head went light from the sudden rising, before he padded to the door. Opening it, he grinned widely as he recognized most of his friends.

Marluxia and Zexion were at the front, the brunette having been the one to his the door. Marluxia grinned back at Axel, waving happily. "Hi, Axel! How're you feeling? Feeling any better?" he asked as he walked in, dragging Zexion after him.

"He wasn't sick, just suspended," the blue-haired teen pointed out bluntly, following his partner into the living room, where Demyx greeted them.

Xemnas yawned softly as he seemed to glide after the first two, looking around. "Enjoy your first day off?"

Axel nodded to all the questions. "Everything's good!" he answered cheerfully, taking stock of where everyone was. Marluxia was sitting on the arm of the couch, rapidly changing the channels, Zexion leaning against the back of the furniture, watching. Demyx had made his way to the pyro's side, where he grinned spastically. Xemnas flopped onto the couch, folding his arms.

Those were the friends who went to school with him, but a few others had either dropped out or were out of school age-wise already, but still kept in contact with the rest. That group of friends included Vexen and Larxene.

Vexen entered, mumbling something along the lines of, "can't stay for too long, I have experiments to tend to at home." Axel arched an eyebrow at this, shaking his head before turning to Larxene, hands on his hips as he faced her, grinning.

"You planning on letting me in?" Larxene asked, putting her book into the bag at her side. She mimicked the other's pose, sticking her tongue out at him.

Axel laughed, sticking his own tongue out before stepping aside for his friend, "of course. Why wouldn't I let you in?"

As she passed him, she poked his cheek, "put some weight on, kid," before sitting on the couch in between Vexen and Marluxia, Zexion standing behind her and Xemnas on her far right.

Axel rolled his eyes; how many times in the past few days had he gotten the 'you're too skinny' comment? "Well, now that you've taken over my couch, where I was trying to rest, where'm I supposed to sit?" he demanded mischievously, hands still on his hips as he faced them.

"God, Axel, you're flaming right now; stop it," Larxene rolled her eyes at him, before looking back to the television screen. "Tone down the gayness factor, will ya?"

With a grin, Axel pointed to the screen as Marluxia clicked through the channels, making him pause. "My god, look, it's my totally favorite show, girlfriend!" he cheered, talking to Larxene. "I mean, the guys on there are so yummy. How could I do without?" He finished, putting the back of his hand to his forehead, falling back as if fainting, where he was caught by Demyx.

Larxene blinked at him before grabbing the clicker from Marluxia, who had stopped changing the channels, as he apparently liked 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy', grumbling, "I am so not watching this. This is for gay guys who have absolutely nothing to do."

"Exactly! So let's watch it! Me and 'luxia have no lives, and we're both gay, or at least, I think we are," Axel grinned, still only half standing as Demyx simply stood there, holding his friend up.

"No, how about let's not," Larxene answered, changing the channel. In time, she managed to get back to USA Network, where the 'House' marathon was still on. When she reached that station, she set the clicker down, all seven of the teens watching the screen.

"Oh, yeah, I was watching this earlier," Axel smiled, before his eyes widened at the screen. "Holy shit, that guy's eyeball just exploded all over the place!" he yelled, which mingled with Demyx's involuntary yelp, and Marluxia's shriek as he clung to Zexion.

The 'exploding eyeball' got all of them focused on the screen. Demyx sat down on the ground, back against the foot of the couch, Axel sprawled half in and half out of his lap.

"Fuck," Axel murmured after a good 10 minutes of watching. "Did that guy's…?"

"Yeah, it did," Demyx nodded, just as shocked as his friend. He glanced over to Axel, who's eyes were huge. Then the pyro spoke again.

"His dick just exploded."

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When the marathon finished (the exploding body parts got them all hooked), at around 10 that night, all of the others left, except for Demyx.

Demyx picked his backpack up, motioning for Axel to follow. "C'mon, we're going, Axel. Get dressed." Beckoning to his friend, he sighed, rolling his eyes as Axel stared at him blankly. "We're getting you food, now get dressed, you can't go out in public like that."

"It's 10 o'clock!" the younger protested, but went into his room to put actual clothes on. When he came out, he had his sweatshirt on, the hood pulled up over his head, and black slacks on that almost completely covered the navy blue flip-flops he was wearing. "Where're we going?" he asked, padding after Demyx, shoes clapping on the steps as the pair walked down.

"Tom Thumb," was all Demyx answered, grabbing his friend's hand impulsively as Axel nearly walked onto the highway while yawning. "Watch where you're going!" he hissed, heart racing.

Axel's eyes widened as he nodded. "Thanks." Somehow, the bumbling pair managed to cross the highway by using the crosswalk, getting to the grocery store. They entered, attracting only a few odd looks, mainly from the other customers, of which there were few.

The musician ignored them, leading the other through the aisles after grabbing a shopping cart. "Axel, what do you eat aside from melting ice cream when you're at home?" he asked; sadly, he had never really seen the red-head eat, and thus didn't know what he liked.

"Err…" Axel answered, looking about, noticing they were in the cereal aisle. "Cereal?" he looked about, knowing that didn't help his friend very much. "Frosted Flakes!" the pyro snagged a box and tossed it into the cart, before trotting after Demyx.

"Sugar; should I be surprised, skinny-boy?" remarked Demyx, rolling his eyes. "Let's see if we can get you something relatively healthy, so people'll stop thinking you're anorexic, hmm?"

Axel made a face at the anorexic comment, but still followed his friend. "Demyx," Axel called in a sing-song voice, "why're you doing this?" Catching up, he grabbed a few pills from his pocket, downing them easily. With that, he leapt up onto the back of the cart to get a free ride, giggling as the drugs took their effect.

"Because you're a druggie who, for some reason, can't do anything for himself, including buy groceries. So that's what I'm doing," Demyx answered with a grin at his friend's antics, grabbing a few boxes from the shelf.

"Aww, that's sweet," the smaller teen answered with a laugh, before jumping back off the cart with nimbleness unexpected of the undernourished teen. Taking a red box out of his pocket, he began to flip it open and shut, a flame flickering up each time he opened it. The pyro stared almost dazedly at the fire, before snapping it shut and slipping it back into whatever pocket it came from.

"Not in public, Axel," the calmer (at the moment) of the two admonished dryly, taking the cart to the Express Lane checkout, where he began to put the items on the counter. As they were rung up, he relaxed, letting Axel read a magazine, 'The National Inquirer'. "Axe," he began, using one of the teen's nicknames, looking over his shoulder to read a heading. "Why're you reading that?"

"'cause it's funny," Axel answered, as if it was obvious. He continued to read the magazine until they were through checking out, when he replaced it on the rack, following Demyx, who was carrying the bags. As they walked across the parking lot, Axel seemed to space, a pale hand twitching slightly. Even in that state he managed to cross the street safely, without having to have Demyx snatch his hand and drag him to safety.

The incompetent duo made it back to Axel's apartment, where the younger and shorter of the pair unlocked the door, letting the bag-carrying musician in. Demyx set the bags down with a groan, collapsing into a chair. "Axel, you want to put the stuff away?"

"'The stuff'?" Axel laughed, grinning as he made his way to the bags. He said nothing more as he put them away. Finishing, he threw a blanket over his friend before making sure to go to his room, where he fell into bed to sleep.


	3. Drown My Sorrow

Finally, chaper 4's up. There's a bit of yaoi in this chapter; I'm starting to get this thing to live up to the 'M' rating it has.

Lyrics are 'Mad World' by Tears for Fears, more commonly recognized as the song from 'Donnie Darko', sung by Gary Jules.

The fic's going to start moving faster now, as the set-up and whatnot is hard and whatever.

Ah, I changed my formatting style; it's cleaner-looking this way.

* * *

All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere

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When Axel woke, starting the second day of his suspension, his eyes were glazed, giving his sharp features a more sunken, nearly dazed, look. Spider-long pointer fingers, one to each cheek, touched against the triangle tattoos below his eyes but almost directly on his high cheekbones, before straying to his temples to massage them. He was feeling more hung-over then normal, which was resulting in giving him a throbbing headache. "God damn," he groaned, sitting up and managing to slam the back of his skull against the headboard with a resounding crack. "Yah!" he shouted painfully, leaping out of bed; a good crack of the head was more effective than the smell of fresh coffee for the drug addict.

Wandering around the room, he dressed himself, slipping baggy and creased clothes over his thin frame, where they hung on him like rags, as they could be described. Now, for some reason, he could understand why Demyx had insisted (as well as Larxene and even Marluxia sometimes) that he eat more. An inward sigh before he tugged his shirt on, covering his exposed ribs. Speaking of eating, Demyx had bought groceries for him, even thought Axel himself was broke. He was always broke; Demyx was even paying for the apartment he lived in. Rummaging through his things, he growled softly as he realized that he was out of drugs completely; powder, pills, even the shots of morphine that he was always reluctant to use.

'Cash,' the thought was automatic when he thought of his drug addiction; the dealers always only took cash, as credit and checks could and would be traced. But he was broke, and jobless, as he was in high school. There was only one thing that the teen could do for money, aside from working at minimum wage; minimum wage got a druggie nowhere. Axel sighed, resigned, as he locked up the apartment after he left, shuffling down the stairs, boots scuffing against the concrete. He wasn't looking forwards to what he was planning to do, but he would rather do his 'job' than face withdrawal. It was never pretty, in the few times in which he'd had it. Even his friends, who were worried about his intense addiction, would force the uppers into his system when he was off of them; it would get that bad.

Soon, his feet, which knew the way to the lesser-known streets, led him there, where he leaned against the entrance to an alleyway, hood pulled up to hide his face. All that was left was to wait; for him, with his lanky body, it never took long to get a 'customer'.

True to his previous experiences, a car drove up to him, one of the dark-tinted windows rolling down. A man in a cap (they always wore a baseball cap) spoke a few words to the teen. "Pull the hood off; let me see your face," a common enough request; no one wanted to hire someone with a bad face. Axel obliged, yanking the hood off and looking at the man's sunglasses with even green eyes. The red-head said nothing, waiting for the response, though his heart was beating a frantic rabbit-dance at what he was going to do; it was always a bit frightening. When the much-older man nodded his approval, Axel pulled the hood back up, opening the door to the passenger side and slipping in, hands in his lap, gloved as always.

He didn't know if the man frequently picked 'hookers' up off the streets, if he had done something to think he deserved a reward, or what; Axel never asked and the customers never told.

"How old're you, kid?" Apparently this man was a bit more talkative than the regular customers Axel would service. 'Service'. An odd choice of words, especially since Axel had used the term to the principal to partially earn his three-day suspension. He never enjoyed the experience.

"Almost 18," he whispered softly, poisonous green gaze staring out the window. "In 11th grade."

"High school, then, a junior. What's your name?" The man, wearing the cap and sunglasses, as was customary, was anything but. No one ever asked for a prostitute's age, grade, school if they were still in it, or name. It was unheard of.

"Wh-what?" Axel stuttered, turning to look at the middle-aged man. "My name?" he was he supposed to react? Was he supposed to answer truthfully? Would he be allowed to not answer? Well, he needed the money, so...

"Axel," the teen mumbled, looking away again. When they reached their destination, the pyro felt the car lurch to a halt, stopping as the man got out, followed by Axel. He bit his lip nervously, trailing after the other, boots again scraping against the ground.

He was led out of a parking garage into an apartment complex, and an expensive one at that. At least he might get a good payment for his services from the man.

The customer beckoned him into one of the apartments, and then shut the door behind the boy. Axel could hear the other's breathing quicken while Axel stood, carefully pulling the hood down and glancing around at his surroundings, a bit unsure of what to do, as it was only his third time to have to resort to such measures.

Because he was facing the opposite direction, he was caught off guard when he was slammed up against the wall, hands flying out in time to keep his face from smashing against the plaster. He let out a strangled, soft cry as he felt hands rove up and down his frail body, finding their way under his sweatshirt and then his shirt, running up his sides and then moving about to the front of his chest. He was released, only to find himself being pulled into a back bedroom and tossed onto the bed like a child's discarded toy.

Axel rolled onto his back, watching the other, who had returned to the younger, stripping him of the sweatshirt and shirt. More nearly inaudible panting in his ear before he was moved onto his front, eye shut tight with apprehension. A louder cry escaped him that time as he felt the other enter him, not even bothering with lube.

"Ah!" he whimpered, a hand balling into a fist in the sheets as he was forced completely to the bed, one of the other's hands in-between his shoulder blades, keeping him from moving. Oddly, it was like being raped, in a sense, with all the lights out, by a man he didn't know and didn't want. This time, unlike the previous two, he felt tears slick his cheeks as he was forced into the bed time after time, body bruised and weary, simply taking it for as long as the other was going to force it upon him. He was, again, resigned.

Another hand, this time moving to Axel's lower arm, fastened around it, squeezing tightly as the he climaxed, before he released the boy, getting off of him and replacing his clothing.

Sore, the teen reached for his pants and cautiously put them on, flinching as he saw blood covering his legs. 'Shit.' "Hnnn," he groaned, shifting his arms to put the shirt and sweatshirt back on, covering his face with the hood before turning to the man. A fistful of cash was thrust at him, which Axel took, then exited the apartment. He made it to the elevator before he collapsed, counting the bills. '1, 2, 3, 4, 500... 500 bucks. Not bad.'

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And their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tommorow, no tommorow

-----------------------------------------------------

Axel pulled his hood up once more, massaging his temples, trying to block out the sounds coming from the street he was walking along beside. He had another massive headache coming on and he wasn't looking foreward to it. The alley he had turned into was a well-known one to him, one he had been down many times before, whether to meet a dealer or a contact for one, depending on what he was buying. In this case, as many of his downtown trips, it was 'crack' he was after, his drug of choice, though he wasn't the pickiest about his drugs.

Soon, he reached someone a bit older than him towards the back of the alleyway, dressed similiarly to himself, with black sweatshirt hood pulled over his face, like Axel himself. A silent exchange then took place; Axel slipped out the 500 dollars he had 'earned', while was taken by the dealer, who unobstrusively gave him a bag full of the white powder that the druggie was addicted to. With that, the red-head left, pocketing his buy.

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On day three of Axel's suspension, Roxas grumbled to himself as he left his last class of the day, ignoring Hayner, who made a face at him before trotting off after Sora and Riku, who had begun to catch up with two girls, one a brunette, the other a pale-haired blonde. Roxas debated on giving his 'ex-friend' the finger, but shrugged it off as he got closer to his locker. As he began to undo the combination lock, his thoughts strayed again to what had happened with himself and Axel; namely, how he would treat the upperclassman when his suspension was finally over. 'He was suspended Tuesday, first day of suspension was Wednesday, today's Friday... so I won't see him 'til Monday.' That would be an awkward weekend. Slamming his locker door shut, the boy jumped as he saw Axel standing beside him, waving cheerily.

"Hey, Roxas!" Axel grinned, both gloved hands in his pockets once more. He was high once more, his movements a bit erratic as he hopped up and down on first one foot, then the other, although the red-head winced visably with each movement. Roxas wondered why for a moment, before his gaze was drawn back upwards by Axel, who had stopped moving, a half-smile on his face.

"Are you even supposed to be on school grounds when you're suspended?" Roxas questioned bluntly, but the look Axel gave him made him regret it almost immediately. "That's not what I ment..." he mumbled, but Axel's green eyes had already flickered downwards to his shoes, nervous. "Axel?"

The older shrugged, hands digging deeper into his pockets as he mumbled something unintelligable to Roxas. A black-clothed arm threw itself posessively around Axel's shoulders as Demyx made his entrance.

"Whatever your name is, I told you to leave Axel the hell alone. What don't you get about that?" The musician pulled the red-head close to him, blue-green eyes narrowed at the other blonde. "So step off. His life's bad enough without you screwing with him."

As Roxas blinked, Axel untangled himself from the other's limbs, before putting a thin hand on Demyx's lower arm. "It's alright, Demyx," he stepped away as he spoke, vivid eyes meeting his older friend's, "I want to talk to him. And I can tae care of myself." He said this not unkindly, but firmly, and confidently enough that Demyx nodded.

"I'll see you in a bit, then?" The musician asked, recieving a nod from his friend before he left, calling back, "I'll meet you back at your place."

Roxas eyed the retreating figure, making an involuntary face at the words 'meet you back at your place'. He wasn't sure why, but when you were talking about Axel and his best friend--

"Hey, Roxas?" Axel said for the second time that day, moving to lean against a locker, drawing in a quick, painful breath at the action. "About the other day... I know I made you uncomfortable," the drugs were starting to 'cheer him up' once more. "But," he smirked at this point, hair falling into his eyes again, "I don't know if I really need to be apologizing."

This was the crack-head Axel that Roxas knew; the one who had entered the principal's office, not the one who had been reduced to crying shambles by Hayner, something that he normally would have brushed off. "Well," a faint blush lit Roxas' cheeks, "I didn't...hate it, if that's what you mean."

"Oh, good, then!" the pyro nodded, straightening and jamming his hands down into his pockets. His own pale face retained a faint blush, but that faded as he spoke, "so... movies on Friday or something?" he smiled nervously, a well-worn shoe scuffing against the floor.

"Movies? Like a date or something?" Roxas managed to get out without stuttering; he knew his whole face was red by this point. "S-sure, I g-guess."

Axel nodded happily, hands back out of his pockets as he smiled. "It's a date, then."

-----------------------------------------------------

And I find it kind of funny

I find it kind of sad

The dreams in which I'm dying

Are the best I've ever had

* * *

Indeed, 'poor Axel'. Tell me what you think; constructive critisim will be responded to down her from now own; a bit of a reward for my loyal readers. -wink- 


	4. Steady As He Goes

I apologize once more for the shortness of the previous chapter. ' This one's longer. Thanks everyone for the reviews, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Updates should be a bit faster now, though I'm starting another AU, this will remain my first priority.

Oh, on a random note: When I was writing, I found myself reading and re-reading the reviews for muse, so it's thanks to my reviewers this got done. Anyways, onto the date chapter!

* * *

"Axel."

"Axel."

"Axel."

"Axel, goddammit, pay attention to me, man!" Demyx yelled, grabbing a fistful of his friend's hair and slammed his face down on his desk. Letting go, he allowed the redhead to sit up, rubbing his face. While his friend did so, the blonde peered at him, waiting for an actual response from the younger, other than the involuntary yelp that Axel had given out when his face made contact with the wood.

"The hell, Demyx?" He demanded, brushing his hand along his nose, which was hurting the worse. "What was that--" Axel broke off as he noticed the blood on his hand, presumably from his nose. "Give me your shirt." When Demyx didn't answer, he growled once more, "Give me your damn shirt."

The guitarist stared at him. "You want my shirt? What? Why?" He arched his eyebrows, before sparing a glance to the rest of the class, all of which were watching them. It was an awkward moment; the entire class, including the teacher, had looked back at the pair when Axel yelled, and had been staring since. A few of the male students, who were close enough to hear Axel talk, blinked at what he said, trying to shrug it off, though the fact that Axel (who they were convinced was gay) was demanding his best friend to take off his shirt was a bit of a touchy subject with them.

Gesturing at his nose, Axel glared at his friend. Honestly, Demyx could be so slow sometimes!

"Oh," Demyx answered, noticing the blood was staining the tips of Axel's sweatshirt sleeves, not to mention where he had wiped the blood off on his black jeans. "Errr…."

Picking up a Health textbook, for they were in fourth period, Axel began to hit all of Demyx that he could get at, laughing and cursing at his friend simultaneously. Both of the black-clad teens ended up halfway on the floor, the more drugged of the pair still brandishing the book, the duo effectively making fools of themselves and distracting the class.

They realized this after a few minutes.

"Err… teacher? Axel got a nosebleed or something. Could I take him to the bathroom to clean off?" Demyx asked, grabbing both of Axel's wrists in his hands, turning to face the teacher after a glance from Zexion.

A few girls sitting across the room heard this (the whole class had) and began to laugh and talk among themselves, drawing their own conclusions from the nosebleed, and the masculine members did their best not to hear Demyx and Axel.

"I think that's best," their instruction answered, a frazzled-sounding brunette was still wasn't sure how she was expected to deal with the pair in the health class. Class was only half over and she was trying to get the introduction to STD's done, so that the class could start on that unit on Monday; she never looked forward to the unit, and was even more apprehensive, thanks to the blonde and the pyro.

Demyx let go of one of his friend's hands and stood, grabbing his bag as he waited for Axel to grab his messenger bag. When he did so, the blonde nearly dragged him out of the portable, the redhead's boots dragging against the ground as a result of his friend's 'enthusiasm'.

Zexion put his face into his hands, shaking his head as he did so. This wasn't going to go over very well.

"Demi-kun," Axel sang, doing his best to get onto his feet as he was dragged into the school building, "What're we doing?" He put a hand up to his nose as it continued bleeding; snorting crack made his nose much more sensitive, and thus prone to nosebleeds. "Where're we going?"

"To the bathroom to get you cleaned up!" Demyx answered, feeling his face turn red thanks to his friend's new nickname for him. "You're clothes are all getting bloody," he pointed out obviously, rolling his eyes as Axel stumbled again. "Am I going to have to carry you?" The musician grabbed one of Axel's hands in each of his, doing his best to get them both into the men's restroom.

"Oh, yeah," the red-head nodded, looking at his hands, which were becoming covered in blood, as well as his sweatshirt. The black clothing was becoming stiff as the blood dried, and the chains that dangled from his sweatshirt becoming speckled red. A glance at his friend's hands told him that they both had blood on them; Axel all over his clothes and Demyx had it on his hands.

When they made it to a sink, Demyx turned on the faucet, washing the blood off his hands.

Axel pulled the sweatshirt off over his head, the bottom of his shirt sticking to it as it ended up getting pulled halfway off. The teen struggled with his clothing, until he felt gloved hands moving to help. Stopping his fight with the clothes, he let Demyx strip the hoodie and shirt off of his pale body, but blinked quizzically. "I could've kept the shirt on."

The blonde took one of Axel's wrists in each hand and moved them to the wall, effectively pinning his friend. "Hold still," he whispered, voice laced with something Axel couldn't recognize, but, oddly, liked.

When Demyx lowered his head, tongue drawing a line from his navel to the hollow of his neck, still not releasing the other's wrists, Axel arched his spine, eyes closed. "Nnnn," he gasped, hands curling up as his friend began to tease one of the redhead's nipples with a tongue.

Axel's breath quickened at this, a hand moving to Demyx's back. "M-more," he gasped, panting softly as Demyx obliged with a smirk.

Mouths met in an impromptu kiss, both pairs of eyes closed. Demyx's hands roved down his friend's underweight body as his tongue forced past the other's lips, meeting that of Axel's. Gloved hands made their way towards the other's jeans, playing about the bare skin just above the top of his pants.

The musician moved his mouth to the red-head's neck, sucking on it, biting gently at intervals, leaving what would become a purpling hickey. The door began to open, startling the two apart. Axel pulled his shirt back on, only having time after that to snatch his sweatshirt before Hayner entered, making a face at the pair.

"Fag," the lower-classman growled at them, noticing Axel's ruffled hair and clothing. "Couldn't you go fuck somewhere else, instead of the bathroom?"

Demyx opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by his friend, who smirked at Hayner. "What? Jealous?" In response, Hayner only rolled his eyes before turning and leaving.

However, the moment was gone, and both friends felt awkward. Lust could only do so much.

"Hey, Axe?" Demyx started, but stopped when the redhead took a handful of pills from his pocket; Axel's way of 'forgetting' things.

Swallowing them dry, he shook his head, red hair falling into his face. "Forget it. It doesn't mean anything," he mumbled, as if trying to convince himself. When his friend's arm snaked about his shoulder, Axel pulled away.

The older put his hand in his pocket, expression all that of someone wounded, drawing away. "Look, Axel--"

"'Look', nothing, Demyx!" Axel shouted loudly, leaning back against the wall and putting his long hands over his face. Doing his best to calm down, he closed his eyes, a hand over them as he continued speaking. "This isn't your fault. It. Fucking. Never. Happened. Got it memorized?"

"Axel," Demyx began, following him out of the bathroom, trying to grab his shoulder. "Hey, man, wait. I'm sorry, I--"

"I said, forget it!" Axel yelled firmly, whirling around to face the other, ignoring the students and teachers who poked their heads out of their classrooms. "It never happened, got it?" Calming down, he grabbed Demyx's collar, pulling him over to whisper. "I have a date today. A date, with a guy I really like. Please, please don't let me mess it up, alright?"

The blonde half-smiled, throwing an arm around Axel's shoulders, glancing down at him. "Sure thing! So, what movie are you planning on seeing, anyways?" After he waved a hand at the others in the hall, they went back into the classrooms, leaving the musician and the pyro alone in the hallway.

The redhead blushed, scuffing his well-worn shoes against the bluish-grey carpeting that the school used to cut budgeting prices. "I'm not sure. Figured I'd let him choose."

"That's adorable!" Demyx squealed, taking his friend's gloved hands in his, and beginning to dance in a circle, Axel reluctantly half-skipping, half-tripping with him.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey guys!" Olette smiled, sitting down beside Roxas and Pence at their lunch table. Roxas was doing his best to ignore Hayner and his cousin, who were sitting at the next table over. Pence waved cheerily at her, glad that Olette had joined them, so she could try and help to get the blonde's mind off things.

"Huh?" The blonde asked when he heard her. "Oh, hey." Staring off into space, he folded his hands, apparently looking at the cafeteria wall.

Long black hands plunked down on the wood as Axel leapt onto the table, boots clunking loudly. "Yo!"

Hand clapped over his ears as Roxas yelled back, "volume!" He carefully removed his hands when Axel closed his mouth, but remained crouched on the table. "Erm. Hi."

The druggie only smiled and waved, his expression unusually calm.

Olette bit the inside of her cheek, watching the older boy who had taken the lack of teachers in the room to sit on the top of the table. "Good to see you again, Axel." However he didn't answer. "Pence, Roxas, you two up for going to the mall today?" When she said that, Axel perked up, vivid gaze turning to Roxas.

Pence shrugged his agreement with a grin. "Sure! I'll go!"

The blonde looked around, meeting Axel's eyes. "Err…"

"Hey, Roxy, we still on for later?" Axel put his hands behind him, leaning back as he spoke.

"What?" Roxas blinked, before he caught on and nodded. "'Course we are," he affirmed.

With a wide grin, Axel ruffled the younger's hair with his hand, before remarking, "I'll leave ya to your friends, then." Getting up, he made his way back to his own friends, swinging onto his own seat beside Demyx.

"Well?" Marluxia asked, "How'd it go?"

Axel only replied with a thumbs-up, before leaning his elbows on the table, zoned out.

Turning to Zexion, the brunette smiled, tilting his head coyly, "Can we go to the mall, too, Zexy?"

"Don't see why not." He answered shortly, shrugging.

"Oh, good. Let's see The Break Up, then."

Demyx tugged on a lock of Axel's hair, getting his attention. "Have fun."

------------------------------------------------------------

Axel shoved his hands nervously into his pockets, scuffing his feet against the sidewalk. Pushing the hood he wore down, he glanced about, looking for the shorter blonde. His black clothing was getting hot, though he had only been waiting for a few minutes.

"Axel! Axel! Hey!" Roxas waved wildly, black and white jacket falling off of his shoulders as he ran. Upon reaching the other, he was snatched and pulled to the redhead, who kissed his cheek with a smirk. "Hey!" the younger objected, blushing furiously.

Releasing the boy and running a hand through his red hair, Axel grinned at him, before pushing open the door. "Ready?"

Roxas nodded, face still tinged pink. "Yeah."

The two entered, the air conditioning a relief to Axel. "Alright, movies, movies, movies. Pick one, Roxy, baby."

"Don't call me that," the blonde mumbled with a blush. "Erm… The Fast and the Furious 3 Tokyo Drift sounds good, and it's on in half an hour."

"I can think of three things we could do until then," Axel smirked, only to have Roxas tug sharply on his ear.

"Go take a cold shower. We'll walk around the mall."

"But there aren't any showers in the mall, Roxy!" The first protested, but still followed him further into the mall.

Roxas ignored the comment with good humor, letting Axel follow him. He slipped into a Gamestop and proceeded to examine the PS2 games while Axel went about his own business.

"The DaVinci Code's a game now?"

"What?" Roxas asked, distracted by the other games on the wall.

"Remember that movie? With the masochist suicidal albino monk guy?" Axel moved to Roxas' side, still looking at the back of the case.

"Oh, Silas? Yeah, I saw it. It was okay. Why?"

"It's a game now," the older teen persisted, shoving the game into his face. "And Silas is in it."

"That's great; can you put it back now?" Roxas sighed, turning and giving Axel his attention. The redhead obliged, putting his gloved hands back into his pockets.

Roxas left the store, Axel once again trailing behind him. "Err… you can walk beside me, you know that, right?"

This time it was Axel's turn to blush, however pale it was on his already pale skin. Long legs moved faster to catch up, then his strides evened out as he dug in a sweatshirt pocket, coming up with a few pills, which he swallowed quickly.

"Those aren't good for you," Roxas narrowed his eyes, having watched the other take the drugs.

"And it I told you they were for a mental illness?" Axel picked a bottle out of his messenger bag, rolling it between his fingers for a moment before handing it over to Roxas.

The bottle was a third filled with white pills, the kind the pyro had just taken. An official-looking white label marking it as prescribed to one "Erickson, A.", treatment for bipolar disorder. Roxas blinked at it, before handing it back over. "Sorry."

Axel took it back with a shrug, putting it back into his bag. "We've got," he checked his watch, "15 minutes until the movie."

Still a bit unnerved by Axel's 'confession', Roxas did his best to brush it off. "Pretzels?"

"Pretzels!" Axel agreed, grabbing the other's hand and nearly dragging him to the food court. "Kind?"

"Cinnamon sugar," Roxas answered almost immediately.

Amused, Axel got out his wallet, remarking, "you like sugar, don't you?" When Roxas only made a face at him, he snickered, ordering and handing over the bills. Upon receiving the pretzel, he handed it to Roxas, leading him to a bench.

The pair sat down, Axel's long legs splayed out in front of him, a tripping hazard for those walking by that way.

The blonde ate the pretzel by picking it apart piece by piece. It was one of these pieces that he offered Axel, who pulled his glove off before taking it, not wanting to get the cinnamon sugar on his clothes.

Upon eating it, he blinked, licking the sugar from his fingers. "How do you manage to eat that whole thing? It's like… crack in food form or something."

"'Crack in food form'? You need a hobby, Axel."

All he received was a grin and a shrug before Axel rose, remarking, "We have 5 minutes."

"5 minutes? What the hell? Why didn't you say anything!"

------------------------------------------------------------

By the time the two made it to the theater, complete with tickets and candy, the previews had already started, but, oddly enough, the theater was empty.

Carrying the candy, popcorn, and drinks, Axel performed a skillful balancing act, slipping through the seats after Roxas, who, for the second or third time, offered to carry something, only to be turned down.

"I've got it under control," Axel objected when he asked again, careful with his footing as the lights dimmed. He set down their things, handing Roxas a bag of Twizzlers and his Coke. After placing his own Coke in the cup holder, he kicked his feet up onto the back of the seat in front of him.

"Don't do that," Roxas hissed, a Twizzler in his mouth.

"Why? It's not like anyone's in here," Axel answered as he cocked a brow at him, smirking.

Silence from Roxas for a moment before he rested his own feet on the seat in front of him. "Good point."

"My diety diet stick," the redhead laughed, snagging the candy from Roxas' mouth and putting it in his own as he contemplated the other's action. "Damn, I'm a bad influence, aren't I?" Only receiving a roll of the eyes from Roxas, he shrugged. His eyes roved down to Roxas' shoes, green eyes widened. "Holy fuck, Roxy! Your feet are huge!"

"Shut up, Axel!" Roxas yelled, face a brilliant shade of red by this point.

Throwing his hands up, he answered around the Twizzler, "Alright, already. The movie's starting."

Things were quiet between the two for most of the movie, until a car blew up, flames covering the screen as other characters looked on in horror.

"What the hell!" Axel shouted, "Han just died! How does that work?" Leaping up out of his seat, he continued to yell.

"Sit down, Axel! Just watch the movie!"

"My favorite character just died! I don't want to watch anymore," he pouted, folding his arms. "Plus," he continued with a smile, "Running around's much more interesting."

Finishing off his Coke, Roxas stood, going along with his date. "Sure, then."

The redhead slipped back out of the seats trotting up to the screen, where he looked up towards the ceiling.

Roxas made his way to Axel's side, hands in his pockets as he looked up.

Axel shrugged, leaping up onto the stage in front of the screen. A gloved hand reached down to help Roxas up; the help was accepted, and soon both were standing on the stage.

"This can't be good for your eyes," Roxas mumbled, sitting down on the stage.

"Never said it was, babe." With that as a warning, Axel walked to the sitting boy, pushing him onto his back with a smirk.

The aqua eyes widened with surprise, but he let the older teen move him into lying on the wood. He could feel his heart rate speed up much more rapidly than he thought possible.

Straddling the boy, Axel balanced himself with skill that told of previous experiences. Lips met as one of Axel's hands, now ungloved, trailed along the collar of Roxas' shirt, causing the boy's mouth to open in a moan, which the pyro took advantage of.

Roxas' hand caught in a fistful of Axel's shirt, pulling the older boy down on top of him, relishing each touch that Axel's practiced fingers play on his bare skin, as the pale hands have made it under his shirt.

Breaking apart for air, Axel surveyed the other with a bright eye, smirking to himself before both hands slipped under the black shirt the boy wore. As he made to take it off, he was distracted by the movie, which was ending with a particularly soppy kiss between the male and female leads. Of course.

"That's anticlimactic," he remarked, reluctantly letting the other up. As he stood, he wrapped an arm around the other's waist, pulling him to himself, slipping the gloves back on. Digging in his bag, he pulled out something metallic and pressed it into one of Roxas' hands.

Leaning against Axel's side, the blonde examined it. "A key?"

"Yeah," Axel shrugged self-consciously, "To my place. So you can stop by whenever, you know?"

Roxas smiled slightly, straightening, "I get it." He pocketed the key, face tinged pink and his normally messy hair even messier, thanks to Axel.

"Anyways," Axel tried to get back to the present, "Shall we go?" Taking his hand (not without further blushing), Roxas nodded, walking with him out of the theater.

The older grinned down as him, twining their fingers together. Never one to miss an opportunity, that one.

As they exited the theater, they nearly ran into a larger group of people going into another one.

"Just my luck," Axel rolled his eyes, letting go of Roxas' hand to wrap an arm around his waist and pull him to his side, eyes narrowed at the others; Hayner, Sora, Riku, Pence, and Olette. "Charming."

Hayner stared at Axel for a moment, eyes flicking down to Roxas, who was allowing himself to be held to the redhead's side. "You're both fags!"

Axel's free hand clenched into a fist as he refused to answer.

"Hayner, leave them alone," Olette began, but was cut off by Sora waving a hand.

The brunette folded his arms, staring Axel down. Blue met green as the pyro resisted the urge to stick out his tongue, and thus ruin the moment. "You do know he's my cousin, right?"

"So? I figured just because he's related to you doesn't mean he's as boring as you are."

"Mature," Riku scowled, rolling his eyes.

"If I wanted you opinion--" Axel began, but was cut off by Roxas.

Almost shyly, Roxas put his own arm around Axel's waist, to the older teen's amusement. "Sora, could you just leave us alone?"

Sora paused for a moment before he nodded, moving past the pair, followed by the rest of his friends, though Hayner spared a moment to flip Axel off.

The redhead snorted at this, before looking down at Roxas. "You know, this position's quite comfortable."

"Don't get used to it," the blonde mumbled with a blush, pulling away.

Axel noticed this and bent down to kiss him on the cheek fondly, whispering, "You sure do blush a lot for not liking it."

"I didn't say that!"

"If you say so, babe," he grinned, taking his hand once more.

Roxas was fighting a losing battle against the pet names the older teen was giving him, and he knew it. Giving in, he rolled his eyes at his date good-naturedly.

Axel ran a gloved hand through his hair, before glancing back to Roxas. "So, when can I expect to do this again?"

Surprised at the question, it took the blonde a moment to fully register. "Oh, another date?"

"You're catching on, that's good. Yeah, another date, got it memorized?"

"Well, I'm pretty much free every day after school, though there's always family and homework."

Thinking this over, Axel nodded. "What about Wednesday, then?"

"That'll work… but," Roxas was looking down at his feet, shy once more. "Does that mean this date's over?"

This time it was Axel's turn to blink in surprise. "Wasn't planning on anything, really. Should we wander around a bit more, then?"

"I'd like that."

* * *

Alright, reply time. (Couldn't get to everyone; space, time, etc. I'll try to fit more next time).

**freak7289, SummerDayDreamer, and FlamingDranzer:** You have to feel sorry for the guy. I've been putting him through way too much, and now I've revealed he's bipolar.

**XfantasymoonX:** Lemon comes soon enough. -wink- You and Aka are both on me about that.

**Demsa: **'Gin and Sin' is one of the best AkuRoku AU's ever, I swear.

**BurntN'Bloodybandaids:** Thank you for the compliment. I'm trying to make it a bit happier.

**A Dangerous Romance:** I'm impressed the only problem was that it's short. Plotdevelopment will be coming in chapters 5 and 6.

**Silly-Pizza-Hut:** You'd better work on 'For the Love of Demyx'. I mean, I had a dream about Demi-kun. That's your omen. And molesting makes me sad. Like when Sephy decided to. Long story. (Axel: No hearting, got it memorized? I've got Roxy!)

**amandazgreat: **That was perhaps the most interesting review ever. I love the metaphor.


	5. Red Balloons

I'm sorry if anything about the chapter seems rushed to you. Personally, this one chapter bugs me, but hey, that's just me. Anyways. Enjoy and all that jazz.

This chapter's for you, Mindy, as you got me out of my rut. 'kari, the next one, as we both know, is ALL yours. And guess what, Aka? Saïx comes in a chapter early. Sorry if I got his personality wrong or whatever, as it's his first apperance.

And the song is '99 Red Balloons' by Goldfinger. Good song.

* * *

The next few days went by uneventfully enough, without Axel feeling the need to destroy school property or be too conspicuous with his drug habit, thanks this his upcoming date with Roxas. As he saw it, it would be a waste to get detention on the day of their second date. Thus was the redhead's thought process when he stuck through the entire school day from Science to Social Studies, not even skipping gym. He was on a Cloud Nine high with only minimum help from his uppers, prescription or not. 

When school was out, Axel was out of the classroom like a shot, skidding out the door before everyone else. With a muffled curse, he shoved his way through those leaving to get back in, taking his bag from Demyx, who had remembered it. (While Demyx didn't have Social Studies with Axel, he had slipped into his class.) "Thanks." Putting his headphones back on, as they had been hanging around his neck, he got out of the room again, CD player on. His fingers strummed an invisible guitar as he swayed to the guitar work in whatever song it was he was listening to.

"Axel!" Roxas cried out, jogging to his side, where the older greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Ready to go, kid?" He asked, pulling the headphones down and pausing the song. Despite the other's blush, he ignored the others around them, most of which whom were staring, and took Roxas' hand with his own gloved one, walking out of the school with him.

"Why do you have to do that?" The blonde hissed, walking alongside Axel, who had taken a turn, apparently somewhere on his mind.

Green eyes moved to rove up and down Roxas a bit too suggestively as he smirked, leaning in close. "Can I not show off my boyfriend in public, then?"

"I didn't say that," Roxas grumped, getting used to saying that to the other. "Plus-- what?"

"'Can I not show off my boyfriend in public'?" Axel repeated, looking down at him.

The younger eyed him warily, as if half-expecting him to burst out laughing if he responded.

"Really." Axel confirmed, hoping to answer the other's question, spoken or not. "Do you know what I'm saying, here?"

"I'm not sure…" Roxas answered hesitantly, biting his lip almost nervously as they walked.

Axel rolled his eyes as he spoke slowly, almost sarcastically. "Boy. Friend. Boyfriend, Roxy, baby. That's the closest I can get without actually asking. It's kind of awkward, got it memorized?"

"Are you asking me--" Roxas began, when Axel interrupted.

"Yes, you've got it! Now answer."

"S-sure, I guess," he stuttered, face heating up as he answered, looking down at his shoes shyly.

Now Axel laughed, pulling Roxas close to his side. "That's great! Now. I heard that you liked ice cream, but I wasn't sure what kind, so I figured, Well, why not go ahead and just take him out for ice cream, then?" As he spoke, he pushed open a glass door, waving Roxas in. "So, what'll it be?"

Moving up to the counter, the blonde pointed wordlessly as a flavor that was a pale shade of blue, to Axel's amusement.

"'Sea Salt'," he read, turning to face Roxas. "If that's what you like, sure, you don't need my permission." Axel turned his back to the glass, leaning on it while Roxas ordered, pulling the headphones back on. Handing over a 20 to the other, he closed his eyes, rocking back a forth to his music until Roxas took his hand and led him to a table.

Motioning for Axel to take the headphones off, Roxas leaned his elbows on the table when he did so. "What're you listening to?" He asked curiously, not ignoring his ice cream as he did so.

Axel took the change that the younger slid over to him, putting the headphones around his neck. "Hmm? Music, oh, right. Sorry." Tugging on Roxas' arm, he patted the chair beside him. "Something Demyx gave me in band. Give it a listen, Roxy." Moving the headphones, he put his head next to Roxas, so they could both listen. "It's called '99 Red Balloons' or something. Half of it's, like, in German or summat."

The blonde leaned in, holding the headphones to his ears as he listened.

"_Ninety-nine decisions treat  
Ninety-nine ministers meet  
To worry, worry, super scurry  
Call out the troops now in a hurry  
This is what we've waited for  
This is it, boys, this is war  
The President is on the line  
As ninety-nine red balloons go by"_

After that, Axel put it on pause, shutting the CD player off. "Demi-kun's got weird taste."

Giving the headphones back to his boyfriend (it was still odd for Roxas to admit that), he mused over it. "I like it. It's pretty good."

"It's catchy, though I wish I knew what the German meant," Axel scratched his head before shrugging. "Whatever." Changing the topic, he looked towards Roxas' ice cream. "I still can't get over that it's blue."

"Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? Is my tongue blue?" Sticking his tongue out, Roxas crossed his eyes to try and look at it.

Axel smirked to himself, shaking his head. "Nah, not blue." Leaning foreword, he made as if to kiss Roxas, but instead licked the ice cream, explaining, "You're letting it drip."

Roxas blinked, noticing what the other had, and began to fix it, licking it. Stopping when he got a good look at Axel's face, he frowned, "What?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, continue on. Watching you is actually quite enjoyable. There's this adorable boy sitting right next to me licking an ice cream cone. I have nothing to complain about."

With another blush, Roxas finished his ice cream, starting to look for a napkin when Axel got up and stood behind him, turning the younger around to face him. The redhead ran his tongue across the other's lips, before handing him a napkin. "There you go."

"What the hell? Axel!" Roxas shouted senselessly, standing up and lowering his voice when the other customers began to stare. "What are you thinking?"

Pulling the younger out of the store, Axel ducked into an alley, pushing Roxas up against the wall, breathing softly, "Do you really want to know?" A gloved hand pushed his shirt up as the redhead nipped at Roxas' collarbone, before managing to pull away.

Despite himself, Roxas was disappointed that the other had stopped, and knew it was showing.

Axel bit the inside of his cheek, arguing with better judgment. "Babe, what are you asking me for?"

He pressed his body to Axel's, nuzzling his face into the other's narrow chest. Remaining silent, his arms snaked around the redhead's waist, fingers playing about the waistband of the back of his jeans.

Carefully disentangling himself from his boyfriend, Axel moved the hands away. "Roxy, baby," he began, taking one of Roxas' hands in each of his an intertwining their fingers together, "You gotta think before you act."

Frowning at the younger's expression, Axel's voice gentled as he kissed Roxas gently. "It'd be your first, wouldn't it?" When Roxas did nothing to disprove this, he sighed, rephrasing, "_I'd _be your first. Look, let's get to my place, and then we can talk about this, alright?" When the younger nodded silently, Axel gestured in the general direction of his apartment. "Though I'm guessing you already know where it is."

Roxas' during-school visit had started all this, hadn't it? The boy in question grinned, nodding. "308B, isn't it?" He asked, eyeing Axel.

"Quick learner you are. About 5 minutes from here, too."

Grabbing Roxas' hand, Axel all but dragged him the half-mile to his apartment. By the time they were up the stairs, however, Roxas was the one dragging Axel. Whoever would have known that not exercising would result in a lack of endurance?

"Can you get that?" Axel panted, leaning over, hands against the wall beside the door as he pointed for a split second at the lock.

"Oh, yeah, got it," the blonde nodded, getting out his key to Axel's apartment and let them in.

When the door was opened, Axel straightened, following his boyfriend in and shutting the door behind them. Sitting down on the couch, he waited for Roxas to do the same before folding his hands in his lap. "Alright, Roxy. Talk to me, man. What exactly do you want?"

Roxas only scooted closer to him, cerulean eyes meeting the green ones.

"Angel," Axel began, taking his hands again, though Roxas freed one, moving it down towards the redhead's thigh, making it difficult for him to concentrate. "Y-you don't have to physically…" When the hand moved inwards and began to move faster, Axel felt his breathing quicken; he was losing all semblance of self-control that he possessed. "Oh, screw it," he growled, grabbing the younger's hand perhaps a bit roughly and moving it away. He picked the other up bridal-style and made his way back into his bedroom, setting Roxas down on his bed.

The blonde smiled, lying down and watching as Axel paced about the room, making as if to grab something then thinking better of it and picking something else up, undecided.

"Damn," he hissed to himself, the fact that he would be Roxas' first weighing heavily on his mind. He knew how this went. Axel knew he'd be a standard for all other sex that Roxas would ever have. When he finally got what he needed, he sat on the edge of the bed, setting a bottle down on the bedside table.

Roxas put both arms around Axel's neck, pulling him closer as they lips met in a soft kiss.

The older moved away, pulling his sweatshirt off before straddling Roxas and unzipping his shirt. Roxas slid out of it, allowing the redhead to toss it on the floor, where his sweatshirt had been discarded. Stripping the gloves off, Axel slid a bare hand to Roxas' pants, unzipping them and pulling them off quickly. With a deft motion, he pulled his own shirt off as well, followed by his jeans, which took a bit longer.

With most of the undressing done, Axel moved to Roxas' neck, licking at it before nipping at it gently. "Here goes nothing," he murmured in the younger's ear, a hand rising to brush the blonde locks out of the blue eyes lovingly. When he trailed his hand slowly down the other's slender body, he smirked as he found that Roxas had become aroused by his talk and action of undressing the both of them.

"Like this?" Axel whispered with hoarse amusement, "You'll like the actual sex a lot better." Rocking his hips, he leaned over with a sharp intake of breath at the reaction he got from it. A hand on either side of Roxas' head, he braced himself, continuing to grind his hips against the other's, the resulting friction causing him to grow hard, making it difficult to keep his pose steady.

Fingers dug into Axel's back, which arched as a result. "God…damn…Roxas," Axel gasped, moving faster, getting more and more impatient. Putting his fingers into his mouth, he began to lubricate them, disregarding the bottle of lube he had grabbed. As if in a second thought, he offered his fingers to Roxas, who took them in his mouth, sucking on them enthusiastically. This simple process only managed to turn the redhead on further.

With a growl, he sat up straight, pulling Roxas' arms about his neck, removing the boxers from them both. "Don't move," he whispered, slipping one of the lubricated fingers into Roxas, making sure not to hurt him in his haste. Once the first was in, he entered the second, scissoring them slowly, green eyes looking down at the other almost nervously; he'd never been anyone's first before. Roxas' eyes were closed tightly, though the only sounds that emitted from him were soft moans of pleasure.

When Axel moved the third finger into him, he leaned down to catch the blonde's lips with his own. Sliding the digits back out, he stopped his movement at a soft moan from Roxas, though all signs pointed to the blonde's enjoyment.

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Rolling onto his side, Axel blinked slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. With a near-start, he looked over a bare shoulder towards the blonde beside him. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he watched the other for a moment before slipping out of bed. He yanked a pair of slacks out of his closet and stepped into them groggily, following them by a low-cut shirt that had the sleeves either ripped or chopped haphazardly off.

By the time he had finished dressing, Roxas was also up and hurriedly dressing. "Axel, what time is it?" He asked urgently, worried about whether he was late for school (it seemed inevitable).

Axel looked lazily towards the digital clock on the bedside table. "8:27, why?" He pulled his gloves on unhurriedly before tuning towards the younger.

"School, that's why!" He snapped, jamming his feet into his shoes without bothering with unlacing them; he could fix it later.

"You've got a point," Axel admitted, zipping his boots. "The bus leaves in three minutes." His words were calm, which was surprising, as the pair had a good chance that they were going to miss their bus.

Only pausing to grab his jacket, Roxas began out of the apartment, the redhead following behind him, grabbing his bag. "Wait up!" The other simply quickened his pace, close to running down the stairs. Skidding around a corner, Axel ended up hopping to keep his balance, boots thunking on the metal steps.

Shoving his change into the box, Roxas slid into a seat, pulling his backpack off and setting it in his lap. Axel sat down next to him, headphones on once more as he leaned his head back, eyes closed, humming softly.

The bus ride was silent, Axel listening to his music and Roxas working on Algebra homework despite the jostling every time the bus hit a pothole.

"We're there," Roxas murmured, shoving the other's shoulder gently. "Wake up or come back to the present, or whatever."

"Sending up red balloons," Axel answered--the song still apparently on his mind--shoving the headphones and CD player into his bag as he got up. "What've you got first period, anyways?"

Automatically, the blonde replied, "Language Arts. Go to your own class. My Science class still isn't back to normal yet."

Cocking a brow, he laughed aloud, thumping down the bus steps to the sidewalk. The student parking lot was full, and a few people milled around, smoking or waiting for friends to get out of class. "Nah, I've got to show up to class or they won't pass me." Whether his words were true or not, Roxas would never know, as a man with long blue hair and an X-shaped scar had chosen this moment to approach Axel.

"Talk to you later, Roxy," Axel called, waving at him before turning to the other. "Saïx, what're you doing here?" He questioned, folding his arms and leaning against a random car as Roxas entered the building.

Yellow eyes, just as unnatural as Axel's own stared him down, but he didn't provide an answer as he glanced over the redhead's shoulder.

"C'mon, give me an answer," Axel pushed, resisting his curiosity to look over his own shoulder as well. 'You can't just ignore me like--" He broke off in frustration, not liking Saïx any more this encounter than all the previous ones.

"You'd better get to class. Marluxia said they noticed you were gone first period."

"Huh?" Axel turned around, noticing that Demyx had come up behind him. That was mildly cliché.

The blonde turned to Saïx, waving. "Hey, man, where've you been? We haven't seen you in a while."

"Which is a good thing," Axel grumbled, not moving from his spot. He and Saïx glared one another down for a few more moments before the younger snorted, pushing his red hair out of his face. "Oh, forget it, I'm off."

With that, he strode off, leaving Demyx and Saïx behind to discuss god-knows-what.

Growling, he flung the doors open, banging through the halls while muttering curses under his breath. Saïx bothered him. While he wasn't exactly sure why, they had never exactly gotten along; not when they had been introduced, not now, not ever.

Demyx seemed to be the link between them; he said he had met the older man during a concert or something like that, but with Demyx it was a bit hard to tell when he knew what he was talking about.

But back to the matter of class; Demyx could look after himself. Gym class wasn't exactly Axel's first choice of a class to show up to, but he could deal with it, he supposed.

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Axel slipped out of his sweatshirt, dropping it to the bench. He peeled his long-sleeved black shirt off, revealing purpling bruises and discolorations all along his fragile body, mainly around his torso. The shirt was followed by his gloves, which he dropped into the pile. Picking up the grey T that he used for gym, he slipped into it, exchanging his pants for shorts that went just below his knees.

Oddly, he removed his boots last, putting on silver and black sneakers, the laces half-untied, but he didn't move to tie them. Although he had made changing take as long as it could, now that he was dressed, he couldn't stall anymore.

When he stalked into the gym, where various students were playing basketball, a few glanced towards him, though none acknowledged him. He guessed it was better than the alternative, but neither option was very attractive.

He already knew it would be too much to ask for; to be left alone to sit behind the bleachers and listen to his music, but it didn't come from lack of trying. Maybe half a minute into a song and he heard his name being yelled at him by the coach.

"Axel!" They were, of course, on a first name basis (though for different reasons). "How many times have I _told_ you! Get out there and play basketball. This isn't your private concert hall."

Immaturely making the 'talking-hand go quack' gesture, he got up grumpily, headphones around his neck. "But I'm only going to end up being hit," he pointed out bluntly, walking out onto the court.

"If you just stand there, yeah, you will."

"What the hell should I do then, dance?" He shot back, ducking as someone tossed a ball at him. "I was kidding!" Reluctantly, the teen picked up a ball, absently spinning it on a finger for half a second, only to drop it.

Another 'teammate' passed another ball to him, which Axel caught quickly, putting it under his arm, on his hip. "I really don't want to," he grumbled to himself, smacking his palm to his forehead in traditional frustration.

It really wasn't basketball so much as it teenaged boys running back and forth dribbling and shooting, which, to tell the truth, didn't appeal much to the redhead. Only when someone else passed to him and he already had a ball did he really realize what he had gotten himself into by standing in the middle of the court; he was hit with it, of course.

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Author replies will be back next chapter. Oh, and check out Mindy's doujin she's drawing for the fic! The link's on my profile. 'Till next time, Nightmarish--out! 


	6. Romantically Challenged

FINALLY. I swear, I'll try to get a chapter every 2 weeks, at least. I'm used to school and all that now. So, never again, will I go this long without updating.

Eh, 'tis a bit short, but I bet you're glad to read it, huh?

And yes, the bit towards the end is slightly (eheh) cliche, and some things are easier than in real life, but whatever. This isn't real life.

Enjoy!

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There had been the span of perhaps a week, during which Axel had remained on his prescription medicine and not gone for anything else (at least, not as much as normal). He and Roxas had spoken, though only in passing moments, really, Axel not having had enough time to seek him out at lunch. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure if the younger boy even wanted to talk to him after what had transpired between the two of them.

So, it came as a small surprise when, instead of seeking the younger boy out, as was per normal, Roxas found him at lunch. Silently, he slipped into the empty seat beside Axel, blue eyes glancing around at the black-clad teens. With a shy movement, he stole Axel's chocolate milk, drinking it as Axel only grinned at him, amused.

"Well?" He questioned, going along with, well, whatever it was that was going on at the moment. "How is it?" While his friends looked on, he smiled at the lower classman, talking with even more exuberant hand motions than normal.

A few of the redhead's friends smiled knowingly, while Demyx simmered silently, crumpling his napkin in his hand.

"No crack," Roxas admitted, setting it back down, before looking up at the group of five around him. All of them were watching him, though it didn't really make him uncomfortable so much as he was just shy. He looked down, though Axel perked up, waving his hand as if to draw the attention of his friends, which was a useless gesture, as they were already watching.

"Hey, everybody? This is Roxas. Roxy, baby, this is Marluxia, Zexion, Xemnas, and Demyx." The exuberant teen looked around at them all after making the introductions.

Marluxia waved, interested in Axel's new 'friend', while Zexion glanced up and then back down to his food. Xemnas watched him impassively with his freakishly orange eyes, before a funny look from Axel broke his gaze. Demyx, however, pasted his trademark goofy smile back on his face. "Hey, Roxas!" He smiled, as if trying to make a new first impression (the first hadn't been so good).

"Don't be shy, baby, say hello!" The rumor about Axel being flamingly gay? Well, they were starting to sound pretty accurate by this point.

"H-hi," Roxas blushed, pressing close to the lanky boy beside him, who glanced down at him, amused. "Er… yeah, I'm Roxas."

"I haven't seen you around," Xemnas began softly, though those around him either turned to listen or quieted down.

Something about the silver-haired teen made him nervous, though he did his best to steady his voice. "I'm only in 10th grade." Xemnas seemed to demand respect; it took a lot for Roxas to resist calling him 'sir'.

"Let up, Zemmy, you're scaring him," Axel drawled, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye. "Anyways. Roxy, good to see you again… haven't seen you much, recently."

The blonde looked up at him, shrugging awkwardly, "I've been kinda busy."

"We can't have that!" Axel gasped in mock-horror. "Why don't you stop by sometime after school?" He had been worried that Roxas was afraid of him or something similar to it, resulting in now being ecstatic when his fears had been proven wrong. "Still got your key, right?"

Checking his bag out of a reflex, he nodded with a small smile. "Still got it."

"Good! See you after school then, got it memorized?"

Roxas shifted awkwardly, mumbling something along the lines of, "I've got to go to Sora's for a project today, after school…"

The pyro's face fell, though he tried to make up for it with a grin. "Oh, sure, sure. Well… see you later then, I guess."

Roxas creased his brows, a hand finding its way to Axel's shoulder.

"Alright, look, what about tomorrow then?" Roxas bargained, sitting with his back up against the table. His inky-blue eyes caught the real grin on the other's face an instant before he was wrapped into a hug.

"That'd be perfect, Roxy-kun!" Axel exclaimed, apparently not noticing Demyx's narrowed eyes. "Tomorrow after school, then! Commit it to memory!"

The blonde rolled his eyes at the junior's enthusiasm. "Sure thing.

Whether or not Axel had a response to that would never be found out, as a certain friend of Roxas' had appeared.

"Um…hey Hayner." Roxas greeted him hesitatingly, his fingers interlacing with Axel's under the table. "Do you need something?"

Hayner glanced from Roxas to Axel to Demyx before he seated himself on the edge of the table. "Just wondering if I could talk to you in private…" he shot a knowing look to Axel and Demyx, both of whom looked away. "You know, in the bathroom or something, so no one else'll hear."

"He will not!" Axel retorted, dropping Roxas' hand and standing up quickly.

The younger boy stared at him before he stood up as well. "Axel, I can make my own decisions!" After that he grabbed his backpack off the floor and stormed off after Hayner.

"Oh shit." The red-head hissed, collapsing back into his seat. "This sucks!"

"Well," Demyx hazadared, "It could've gone better…"

Axel shot a glare at Demyx before turning to watch the blonde--_his_ blonde – follow Hayner.

To his surprise, Larxene flopped into a chair a few seats away from him, tossing her antennae-like hair out of her face with a grin. "We haven't seen you too much since school started." She explained, as several more of their friends sat down, more or less getting everyone's attention.

With a lazy salute, a scared man spun on one of the stools, remarking "Xigbar here, to." He looked around, rattling off a string of names, as if Axel had forgotten his friends. "Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Saïx, Larxene, and even Luxord. Got 'em here for you special, at Larxe's request."

The mentioned six sat down, chatting amongst themselves.

"Actually, Demyx asked Saïx, who asked Larxe, who asked me." Xigbar finished, waving a hand to try and muster silence.

Lexaeus sat next to Zexion, who turned his attention from Marluxia to him, as the brunette scowled and turned to Larxene.

Xigbar and Xaldin had been distracted by Xemnas; what they were talking about was unapparent, though it involved much arm-waving on Xigbar's part.

The second blue-haired man, Saïx, had made his way to Demyx, who was busy regaling him with some random story or another.

Utterly lost, Axel looked around, and, in doing so, caught Vexen's eye. The pair locked eyes for a moment, before the younger shuddered and looked away.

"I'm, erm, going to find Roxas…I'll be right back." When he stood, Vexen followed the suit, cold eyes fastened on him. "Uh?" Axel began, before the oddly tactful (at the moment) Luxord rose.

"I'll come with you." He offered, before finding himself being dragged out of the cafeteria by a relieved Axel, though they were both still being followed by Vexen.

"Luxord," Axel stage-whispered, "He's still there. Why's he following us?"

A bit amused by the fact Axel was practically clinging to his arm, Luxord continued walking as he answered. "Something to do with one of his experiments, no doubt."

The pyro risked a glance back, eyes widening as they met those of the scientist's. "N-no doubt. Creepy freak, isn't he though?"

Upon reaching the bathroom, Axel's mind was home to two images (one much stranger than the other); the first being when Hayner had found him and Demyx in there, the other of Roxas (in the guise of a princess, of course), being threatened and/or assaulted by Hayner (a dragon) and himself, Axel, the handsome knight in shining armor rescuing his beloved. Resolved, he slammed open the door, cheeks tinged with a faint blush and eyes narrowed. "Get away foul beast-err, Hayner!"

But, many fantasies are too good to be true; thus was the case with Axel. Instead of his fair liege being harassed, he was staring stupidly (yet still adorably, Axel thought) at said teen.

"Axel?" Roxas blinked, surprised, before resentment at the apparent lack of trust set in. "I want to talk to my friend in private! You don't have to constantly watch me!" With that said, the blonde shoved his way past Axel, storming off.

"But Roxy…" The junior protested, trailing after him weakly.

Luxord blinked, unsure of what he had just witnessed, before he turned to find that Vexen had already left.

"Roxy, baby, what's wrong?" Axel whined, following him back into the cafeteria. "I just want to be able to try and get on with my own life! It doesn't all revolve around you!" Roxas whirled around, eyes narrowed. "I have a life, apart from you, alright? I still want to be friends with Hayner!"

"But Roxas! I'm…" Unable to get the words out, he stopped talking, which prompted Roxas to walk off.

"Jealous." Saïx finished Axel's sentence, wolf-like eyes gleaming oddly.

"Right…"

"Would you not tell him because, perhaps, you think he had the right to also be jealous…?" Saïx asked this softly, arms folded. Now, it seemed, he was the one manipulating the manipulative.

"Shut up." The smaller demanded, pushing away and stalking back to his table.

"How'd it go?" Demyx asked, glancing up as Axel and Saïx approached.

When Axel collapsed into his seat, the musician fell silent, concerned. "What happened? Talk to me, Axel!"

"Hayner was there."

"Did he hurt you?" The blonde's eyes widened as he questioned his friend.

Axel looked at him, as if daring him to ask again.

"Okay…no…"

Axel stood, shrugging. "Whatever. I've got classes to go to."

"So've I. Band, remember?"

Yes, the black-clad teen did remember, but he merely nodded, picking his bag up as he walked out of the cafeteria, seconds before the bell rang.

"What's up his ass?" Demyx questioned, pouting for a moment before grinning. "Axellll, wait up!" He ran after his friend, waving his hand dramatically.

"What the hell do you want?" Axel grumped, making it into the band hall.

"Uh… we have class together."

"I know that."

"Then why'd you ask?" Demyx questioned cluelessly, though he fell silent when their teacher entered the room.

She glared the students down, before relaxing. "Right. So, you've all practiced, right? Oh, good to see you back, Axel."

Axel blinked, caught off guard, before remembering that he had skipped most of the band classes, with the excuse that he was sick. "Oh, yeah, yeah."

"Anyways. We have class to attend to, though we are, of course, thankful to have our drummer back from wherever he was." The teacher smirked, flipping through the sheet music.

Bored, he began to tap the drumsticks against the wall, ignoring the irritated glances that he got. This was his favorite part of the day. Annoying the other students and actually getting away with it. What wasn't to like?

"Stop that, Axel," Demyx hissed under his breath, tapping the other's hand as he concentrated on his guitar. "You'll throw everyone off. Your job is to keep everyone together, not get them all mixed up!"

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Although Band with Demyx had calmed him down, and annoying Xemnas during Language Arts cheered him up, he was once again dismal when he returned home.

Axel grumbled to himself as he tromped up the stairs to his apartment, tossing his bag onto his floor. "Goddammit, Roxas." He didn't say anything more, but dropped onto his couch, feet up on the coffee table, boots crossed. He ran a gloved hand through his spiky locks, closing his eyes worriedly.

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Humming to himself, Demyx paused at the foot of the steps, strumming an air guitar as he laughed aloud. He chose then to prance up the stairs, knocking on the door. When he received no answer, he shrugged, opening the door with his own key. After all, there was music pounding; it wouldn't surprise him if Axel hadn't heard him because he was singing his lungs out.

But, when he did open the door and slip inside, he was completely unprepared for the scene that hit him. Well, perhaps to put it that way would be too cliché, but he was surprised.

The room was empty and neat enough; not even the TV was on. The source of the music was coming from near Axel's room, presumably his bathroom, as Demyx could hear the soft hiss of the shower.

"Hey, Axel? Where are you, man?" His question went unanswered, but he shrugged, opening the door to the bathroom, unperturbed. "Uhh… Axel, you okay?"

His friend was leaning against the tile wall of his shower, the glass door fogged up with steam. A ghostly-pale hand moved, wiping a part of the glass clear. "Demi-kun…?" Vivid eyes were dull and half-closed as he opened the door slightly, blinking owlishly at his friend. "Roxas?" His voice was inaudible, though his lips moved slightly as he mumbled.

"I'm here, I'm here," he affirmed, pulling his shirt off before reaching in to try and turn the water off for the other. "What're you doing, anyways?"

"C'mere," Axel laughed, tugging on Demyx's arm. "I missed you," he began, waving his free hand, "I thought you might be mad at me. I'm so sorry… can you forgive me?"

"Of course!" He exclaimed, "I couldn't hate you! You're my best friend!"

The slender teen smiled, "Good. Come here," he repeated, tugging on his arm again. For what might have been the billionth time, he noticed how blue the other's eyes were, though Roxas' normally seemed a littler brighter… oh, well, maybe it was just him.

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Roxas smiled cheerfully to himself as he stepped off the bus, looking up to Axel's apartment. Wouldn't he be surprised to see him! Sora had called to say that he was sick and was going to have to cancel the studying. Sick. Right. More like ditching him to go somewhere with Riku. _Out_ somewhere with Riku. Honestly, who did they think they were fooling?

Remembering the fact that Axel had given him a key to get in, he selected it off of his key-ring, jamming it unceremoniously into the keyhole and opening the door. "Axel! Guess what!" He called, shutting the door behind him and nearly tripping over the black bag on the floor. "Clean up your stuff," he admonished to himself, picking it up and tossing it onto the couch.

After doing his obsessive-compulsive cleaning, he looked around, perturbed as to why he hadn't found Axel. Baffling noises were coming from the bathroom, of all places; soft little moans in what Roxas recognized as Axel's voice.

He opened the door, freezing when he entered the room. "Axel…?"

Axel cracked an eye open, but they both opened quickly after that. "R..Roxas?" The teen was pressed up against the wall, red hair damp and mussed up.

The other blonde, Demyx, jerked, hastily moving away from Axel and re-clothing himself, which involved putting his shirt back on and zipping his pants up. "Oh, fuck."

"'Oh, fuck' is right!" Roxas shouted, stunned by the fact that he found himself crying. "What the hell is going on!"

Pulling a robe on, Axel hesitated before hanging his head, unable to answer. Angrily bright eyes flashed to Demyx. "How could you do that! You're my best friend! You practically raped me!"

"Y-you're the one who started it!" The blonde answered, blue-green eyes wide in fear. "I… I thought…"

"You thought what!"

He only shook his head, picking his things up. "I don't know. I'm leaving."

Roxas watched the two silently, before wiping his eyes on his sleeve and turning around. "Is this what you do, Axel? Use people?" With that, he followed Demyx out, leaving the other to collapse to the ground, shaking his head.

"That's not what I meant…"

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Demyx stormed out of the apartment, unable to vent his frustrations. "Rrr… shit!" When the smaller blonde followed him out, mouth open to say something, the upperclassman cut him off. "Were _you_ there every time Axel hit his lowest point after a high? Were _you _there every time he tried to do something stupid and ended up hurting himself? Were _you_ there for him when he needed you most and even when he didn't!"

Roxas closed his mouth, looking down at his feet as he put his hands in his pockets. "No… but I haven't had the chance to do all that for him yet."

Arching his eyebrows, Demyx laughed bitterly. "I've known him for nearly 7 years. Has he ever fully opened up to me? No. Does he seem to notice how I look after him? No. Does he realize that I'd never leave him? No. But then you come along, some sophomore that's caught his eye. Does he know you? No. But he's obsessed! You've known him for hardly 4 months! How can you say _anything_!" He shouted all this, hands balling into fists.

He had no answer to this tirade, so he merely looked away. "I can't. But I can try to help him."

At that point, Axel opened the door, walking out after them. Both looked at him, expecting an explanation. "I'm sorry. To both of you… got it memorized?" He added the last part weakly. He had put on actual clothes; namely a white sleeveless shirt and black tie with his jeans. "I'd love to blame this on someone or something else, but life's not that easy, or so I've been told. It's completely my fault. Not Demyx's. Not Roxas'. Mine." He shrugged, hands in his pockets, subconsciously mimicking Roxas. "Can you forgive me? Please?"

Against his much-better judgment, Roxas nodded slowly, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Demyx doing the same.

Axel ran a hand through his hair again, smiling slightly, wordlessly. "Thanks."

"Yeah, well, you'll owe us," Demyx shrugged, though he was considerably and noticeably happier. "See you tomorrow, then."

Roxas nodded, trailing after Demyx. "Yeah… see, ya, Axel. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"Right, right, I've got it memorized." Axel affirmed, standing in the doorway for a minute after the other two left, before shrugging and going back inside. "Love you both."

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Well? Did you like it?

Demyx is getting a bit more assertive, and is apparently a seme. Weird.

But anyways! Silly-Pizza-Hut is writing a fic called Speak for Yourself. Go read it. (Once it's up). I've read it, and I love it to death.


	7. Who Would Ever Think?

Hello, hello, hello! Again. I've missed you all.

Anyways. This is a weird chapter; my Halloween chapter to you all, so enjoy.

Hmm...review number **100** will get a request chapter or fic. My version of Christmas.

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It was funny how a person could say one thing and mean another. How they could mean to say one thing, but end up saying something completely different. Thus was the case with Roxas, and he was planning to do something about it. He had forgiven Axel much too easily; even Olette had asked what Axel had done to have such good karma. Roxas wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that. It frustrated him beyond reason, that when Axel had asked him for his forgiveness, he had so easily given it; manipulative bastard.

In second period, when the class was asked to look at cells in Biology, Roxas waved cheerily to Olette and Pence, before walking to Hayner. "Hey, can I work with you?" He questioned, trying to appear unassuming.

"What?" Hayner asked, caught off guard. "I thought your boyfriend told you to have nothing to do with me." He folded his arms angrily, though, Roxas noted, not without reason.

"Look…can you stop bringing that up?" Roxas grumbled, looking away for an instant.

Hayner watched him for a moment before shrugging and leaning over to examine the cell slide in the microscope. "Hell. Whatever. I don't care. Just don't fuck around."

The blonde glared at him, but dropped him binder and paper down next to his friend (_'Old friend? Ex-friend?'_ Roxas asked himself as he moved, but, unable to come up with an answer, ignored his mind. It was best to play these things by ear, as Axel would say. _'Screw Axel!'_ His mind protested, as he failed to squash its thinking, _'If he wants to fuck up what he has, I don't care! Let him deal with it!'_), ready to take his turn looking through the view piece.

Both were silent for the better part of the class, before:

"Hey. Roxas."

The voice startled Roxas, and he looked up from the microscope, finding himself staring at Hayner. "Yeah?" The thing that made him look up wasn't the words, but the tone. It was more friendly, really, than anything, and he treated this with welcome, although he was suspicious.

"What're you doing for Halloween? I mean, it would be better if all of us could go and do something together. All of us; you, me, Hayner, Pence, Olette…maybe even Seifer and them. Maybe them."

Roxas arched an elegant eyebrow (_'That's gay.'_ His mind retorted, as if it's Axel in his head. While he remained calm, he wanted to hit his Axel-mind against a wall.) "Seifer?"

"Yeah. I've been seeing them around more often since you've been…gone."

Roxas shrugged, "I guess so. Do you all have a theme or anything?"

Hayner grinned, shaking his head, "Nah. But you'll go with us?"

"'Course. It's not like I'm doing anything, otherwise." The blonde scribbled down answers on his sheet before scrawling his name at the top. "Call me if you think of anything, alright?"

"Sure thing, man. It's a promise."

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Demyx sprawled next to a speaker system, his guitar resting over his bare chest. "Well, Axel? Whaddya say?"

The other merely laughed, a game controller in his hands. "Lucky, lucky you, Demyx. I love this game. _Halo 2_, all the way." Axel jerked his arms back, snarling a curse at the television. "Dammit! You're goin' down, bitch! You do _not_ shoot me! You do _not_ duck!"

"Calm down," Demyx suggested, lazily playing a chord. "It can't help you to play the game if you get so worked up."

Axel snorted at him, locking onto his target in the game. He fired, then continued on to shout elatedly, "Boom, headshot! Told you! Got ya back!" Unsatisfied despite his success, he focused on another man, which he missed. "Oh? You know what? For that, I'm going to get you fucking good!" He took aim at the target's crotch and fired. "Oh, how do you like that, fucker?!"

His friend made a face, scooting towards the couch. "It's just a game…"

"Which I am _completely_ beating."

Pouting, Demyx retorted, "Like it takes any talent to play video games."

"You speak of lies! Sacrilege!"

"…cool off, man."

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The phone began to ring.

Now, Roxas would have ignored the phone, had he not been busy playing _Halo 2_ (and being slaughtered spectacularly by a character whose player was incessantly shouting, although he did deserve to). But, as it was his cell phone, and it was in his pocket, he twitched, before pulling it out.

"Yeah?" There was no need to introduce himself; it was his number the other person had called, after all.

"Roxas?"

"Yup, that's me." No shit, really?

"Hey, it's Hayner."

"I guessed. Why're you calling?" Roxas began to try and continue his game, although the other player had chosen that moment to shoot him in the...wait…had the other guy shot him in the pants? "The hell?! That's cheap, you bastard! Uncalled for!" The only response the player gave him was laughter.

"Um...Roxas? You alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, playing a game, sorry. What'd you want to talk about?"

"Halloween. Olette, Pence, me, you, Sora, Namine, Kairi, Riku, and Seifer and his friends are all going."

"Cool. That's practically everybody."

"Are you planning on some sort of costume? We still don't have a theme or anything."

"Um...hadn't thought about it, actually."

"Well, a couple of them are over here, let me put you on speaker-phone, alright?"

"Oh, sure thing."

"Roxas! We haven't talked in forever! I've missed you."

"Me too, Namine. So, you're coming with us? That's good."

"Hey, anyone want pop tarts…? Wait, who are you all talking to? Who? Oh, Roxas? Hey, Roxas!"

"Sora, 'ey. Namine, are you planning on any sort of theme?"

"The pop tarts are burning," Riku's voice, calm as ever, floated over the phone line, which was then followed by several shrieks and Sora's shout of "I've got it!"

"So, you're really got everybody over, Hayner?"

"Except Seifer and them. But, yeah, pretty much."

"Hey, is Roxas playing _Halo_? If he's not, tell him to get on. There's some guy shooting everyone in the head….it's psycho, he's a new player, but hell, he's good!"

"Already on, Pence. He got me once. Where are you, anyways?"

"North-east somewhere…"

"Got it, I'm coming."

"I want to play!" Kairi demanded, barely close enough to the phone to be heard.

"God, there's too many of you! I don't know who I'm talking--Oh, hey, Pence, I found you!"

"Maybe we should be sheep."

"What?" Several voices answered Namine's.

"We could be sheep. And maybe there could be a Shepard or Shepardess."

"Is that even a word?" Kairi asked, before the others cut her off.

"…why a sheep? Do we seem like sheep to you?" That time it was Hayner, although his character had showed up onscreen for _Halo_.

"Sheep? Awesome! Sheeeeep! Baaa! Oh, by the way, I got the pop tarts! They're okay!"

"If you think pop tarts are meant to be black and smell like smoke, yes, they're fine."

"That's mean, Riku! I made the pop tarts for all of you! It's special!"

"Special pop tarts?" Roxas asked, still distracted by his game. "We're pop tarts for Halloween now?"

"What? No, what gave you that idea?" Olette asked, closest to the phone, judging by the volume of the voices. "I think we're sheep, for some reason."

"We should be lions! They're kind of like sheep, but a lot cooler!"

"Sora, how would we be lions?"

"I don't know…"

"God! If he would stop with the whole 'Boom, headshot!' thing, I might not hate him as much."

"Back on track people! We're talking about Halloween costumes!" Hayner shouted over the noise. "It's in a few days, come on."

"Um..pirates?" Roxas suggested absently, watching Pence and Hayner's characters on his screen.

"Ninjas are better than pirates!"

"What? Who said that?! Pirates are so much cooler!" Sora shrieked. "Oh, Seifer's here. Hey, Seifer. He thinks ninjas are better than pirates, Roxas! Tell him that's not true!"

"Huh? What're you talking about, Sora?"

"Halloween costumes. We'll be 'Ninjas Versus Pirates', like that T-shirt I've got."

"Who decided that?" Hayner shouted, and Roxas heard it through both his game and the phone.

"I like it," Kairi stated, in the sort of way that says 'I like it, that's what we're doing, got that?'.

"I'll be a ninja-ess," Namine said clearly.

"Sora, Riku, and Kairi can be pirates, and Olette, Pence, Roxas, Namine, and me can be ninjas. Seifer and them…can pick, I don't know."

"I love pirates!" Sora shouted at the phone, making Roxas' ears ring.

"I'll talk to you later…this guy is _really_ starting to piss me off. Ninjas for us, pirates for you, alright." Roxas disengaged himself from the conversation, before hanging up. He was mildly put out that everyone was at the same place, except for him, but this would hopefully only be a one-time incident.

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"Yeah, who is it now?" Marluxia snapped as he picked up the phone.

"That time of the month again, Marly?" Axel asked, turning off the game. "Anyway, me and Demyx were thinking about Halloween. He thought maybe we should take something and, you know, change it a bit."

"Oh, that's interesting. Did Demyx have any ideas as to what we could change?"

"I'm right here, guys! I was thinking, maybe we could do some kid's tale, but, oh, I don't know, make it gothy or something."

"'Gothy'? Right…but anyway, what do you think, Marluxia?"

"Aside from the fact we would look like a freak show? I like it, actually. What kind of children's tale?"

"Um…_Winnie the Pooh_? That's what I always read, growing up."

"What kind of childhood did you have, Demyx?" Axel asked cautiously, arching his eyebrows. "But I've got dibs on Tigger! And because this was your idea, Demyx, you can be Pooh."

"Kanga can be Larxene, because they're girls…and Saïx can be Christopher, because he's with Pooh…"

The blonde's reasoning made no sense to Axel, but he shrugged, content to hate Saïx silently.

"Marluxia, you can be Rabbit, and Zexion can be Eeyore, because they're both really quiet."

"And Lexaeus?" Marluxia's voice was edged, making Demyx hesitate before answering.

"I…can you see him dressing up?"

The other over the phone merely made a noncommittal noise, "Never mind. I'll see you later, then," and hung up.

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Axel held his arms out, letting Larxene paint black and orange stripes onto his bare arms and face. "I feel like I can't move," he complained, grinning at her in her costume.

Larxene had been more forced, than anything else, into a black form-fitting T and pants, with a tail attached. "I don't look like a kangaroo."

"So? Are you complaining?" Axel had a formal white starched shirt on, with the sleeves cut off, and black pants to match, although they were in one piece. "I feel gay with the tail and cat ears…can I wear them more often?"

Demyx twirled in a circle, laughing. "I feel so weird!" He wore a red tie over a black shirt and pants, although the other had tried to convince him Pooh ran around pant-less.

"What am I again? Some kid?" Saïx narrowed his eyes. The blue-haired man was wearing relatively normal clothing, in black and white, of course, but was also being made to carry around a stuffed Pooh.

"Christopher Robin," Demyx answered, straightening his tie. "But I think we look more like a weirded-out mafia than the characters. How do I look like Pooh?"

"You don't…just stay with Saïx and try to communicate subliminally," Marluxia's response was dry, although he was enjoying his costume. His was hardly different from the others, but he wore a pair of bunny ears and carried a rake, which he seemed to take to happily.

"You're all so easily amused," Larxene informed them, opening her book.

"What're you reading?" Demyx asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"_Justine_ by the Marquis de Sade."

The boy made a face, backing away hurriedly. "I'm going to pretend I didn't see that….oh, god…"

"Is that…Woah, it is! Look, it's Roxas and his friends!" Axel pointed out, "Let's scare 'em."

"Roxas, you look so cute!" Olette said, pulling a headband on. "We make good ninjas."

Roxas shrugged, popping his neck at her compliment.

The five ninjas all wore black clothing, some with fishnets, some without, and wore headbands. Olette's was about her head, Roxas' about his waist, Hayner's on his right upper arm, Namine's around her neck, and Pence's around his head.

"Arr! I'm a bloody pirate!" Sora shouted, waving a cutlass. "This is so cool!"

Riku, Sora, and Kairi were wearing assorted pirate gear, complete with swords, baggy clothes, and excessive jewelry.

Hayner grinned at Sora, pulling kunai from the pouch at his waist. "I agree."

Seifer, Rai, and Fuu had taken the chance to wear both ninja and pirate gear. "We're 'nirates'," Seifer pointed out.

"Oh-kay, then…" Olette nodded, looking around. "Are we all ready to go?"

When everyone had affirmed as such, Roxas began to lead them up a sidewalk to a house that had left a bucket out on the porch, full of candy.

"Get the bucket!" Sora commanded, pointing his sword at the object in question and charging up the stairs.

When they were all close, a loud and surprising scream was let out, and more than one of them jumped, looking around nervously.

"What the…?" Roxas asked, blue eyes huge, but he was cut off as the scream screamed again.

"Okay, this isn't funny!" Kairi cried out.

Axel stepped out from behind the bushes, doubled over laughing. "Oh…my…fucking…god…! That was hilarious! Did you guys see your faces? You were so freaked out!" The redhead snickered, managing to calm down slowly. "Oh, god, that was just awesome…plain awesome."

"Axel!" Roxas snapped angrily, "What the hell was that?!"

"Calm down, baby, it's fine. I was just messing around. You," he gestured at Kairi, "I didn't scare you too badly, did I?"

But, before she would be able to answer, Roxas glared at the older. "Go away, Axel. I don't want to deal with you right now, alright?"

Axel drew back, eyes flickering from Roxas to Kairi and back again. "Right…got it memorized." He shrugged, turning and walking back to his friends, the majority of which were still laughing, which cheered him immensely.

"He's starting to piss me off," Roxas growled, looking at his own friends. "Immature prick."

Hayner grinned at Roxas, throwing a piece of candy at him. "There ya go, buddy. Good call. Now, let's enjoy the rest of the evening."

Namine nodded, linking her arm with Roxas'. "Let's have fun, alright?" She asked, watching him for an answer.

"Most definitely. We've got to get the most candy this year."

"Let's work it in pairs," Hayner commanded, "Me and Pence, Namine and Roxas, Sora and Riku, and Olette and Kairi."

Seifer folded his arms across his chest, "Me, Fuu, and Rai can all go together."

"Alright…on your mark, get set, and go! The pair back in two hours with the most candy wins!" Sora shouted, grabbing Riku's hand and charging off.

"…that was weird." Roxas noticed.

"I like Sora, he's nice and makes me laugh." Namine smiled, tilting her head to the side slightly. "You're kind of like him."

"Right…" He agreed slowly, not about to argue with her. She was a bit weird, but still extremely sweet.

"Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, uhh…what goes next?" Demyx asked, stopping mid-skip.

"I've got no clue," Saïx answered, trying to detach his arm from that of the younger's.

"It still rhymes!" Axel shouted, tail in hand. "Pooh and clue! Woohh.. I'm on a sugar high!"

Larxene snapped her book shut. "That's better than half the other stuff you get high off. Stick with the sugar for now, poster child for man-anorexia."

The redhead stuck his tongue out, "I am not. Liar."

"Whatever, it's not my problem."

"I'm tired," Demyx complained, sitting down. "Let's see what we got."

"Why did we go trick-or-treating, instead of having a party or finding one, again?"

"Because Demyx wanted to," Marluxia answered, tilting one of the ears.

"I hate Almond Joys," Axel grumbled, making a small pile of them. "Chocolate-covered coconut and almond…how does that even _sound_ appealing?"

Larxene picked up an apple eyeing it distrustfully. "These things aren't wrapped, number one, and number two, why apples, of all things? Apples are always squishy and nasty." She dug her nails into the green apple, before pulling it into pieces. "See?"

Demyx did see, and his eyes widened as he began to choke on his candy. "The…hell?!"

His friend leaned over to slap him on the back, "Demi-kun, come on, breathe. In and out, in and out. Good, there ya go."

"God, Axel, you really _are_ a whore!" The girl smirked, leaning back.

Wiping tears from his eyes, Demyx answered, horrified, "Larxene, why'd you do that? _How'd_ you do that?"

"With my hands, of course. Were you not paying attention?"

"That's…that's….Larxene, that's _sadistic_!"

"Thanks for noticing." She rolled her eyes, gesturing to her book. "Not like sadism comes from the Marquis de Sade."

"Got it memorized?!" Axel shouted, laughing as he lay on the grass.

"Shut up, god, Axel," Larxene demanded, throwing Almond Joys at him.

Axel leapt up, flailing his arms. "I'm going to die! Ah! Somebody, save me!"

Demyx watched him mutely, standing up slowly and walking behind Saïx. "He scares me."

"Doesn't he scare us all?" Saïx responded, looking at the boy behind him.

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I've got some explaining to do for this, don't I?

Explanations:

The Winnie the Pooh thing has two reasons- One, my friends have gothified Alice in Wonderland before. Two, I let my sister pick what they would do. ...I want Axel's costume.

No, I don't like Almond Joys particularly. Yes, I have destroyed an apple like Larxene. Yes, sadism comes from the Marquis de Sade.

Any more questions?


End file.
